Welcome to the Family
by Seventhcaustic
Summary: Sixteen years after the events of F.E.A.R. 3, Alma's daughter is blissfully unaware of her monstrous legacy, but when her powers finally manifest during class, her life changes forever. Now she must face advanced new breeds of human weapons engineered by the megacorp Armacham, and fight for survival when the world is thrust into war by the cataclysmic Project Prometheus.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I

Disclaimer: I dont own F.E.A.R.

Authors Note: So first thing Im uploading this from a smart phone. The apostrophes dont work right. So if there any apostrophes missing then I apologize. Alright so this is the first fanfic Ive done on this website. So if I get anything wrong Im counting on you guys to review and tell me. So this story is about Almas child from the good ending of F.E.A.R. 3. I named her Lucy. That name was inspired by an anime called Elfen Lied where the main character really reminds me of Alma. THIS IS NOT A MARY-SUE. Believe it or not, a super soldier mixed with a super psychic makes one hell of a kid. Okay so really review and give me some tips. And if you guys have any F.E.A.R. OCs you would like me to throw in there, I would be happy to do so. Just leave their name and a VERY DETAILED description in your review. Im also a guy, so since this character is female I wouldnt mind a few tips on how to write a girls POV. Im afraid this chapter may be a bit boring until the end. But thats just because Im trying to simulate the life of a normal teenage girl. I promise the second chapter will be more exciting. The song is Down with the Sicknesses by Disturbed. Enough rambling and on with the story.

•Π•

Drowning deep in my sea of loathing  
>Broken, your servant I kneel<br>It seems what was left of my human side  
>Is slowly changing in me<p>

Looking at my own reflection  
>When suddenly it changes<br>Violently it changes

Oh no, there is no turning back now  
>Youve woken up the demon in me<p>

•Π•

The birds were chirping sweetly in the warm spring air. I relished the feel of the early morning sun on my face as I gleefully skipped down the short street to my high school. I was always in high spirits when summer break drew near, especially after a difficult year. However, after the strenuous trials of my first year in high school, I had feeling summer would be all the more gratifying. I redoubled my already enthusiastic gait, eager to be finished with my final day as a freshman.

Although, aside from it being my last day of school, I supposed that I really did have alot to be happy about. People always seemed to mention how jealous they were of me. Some people: parents, friends, and teachers liked to believe that I was the perfect child. I was very athletic. I was stronger and faster than all of the other girls and most of the boys. Disregarding athletics, I was also highly intelligent. I aced my classes and never dropped below a C+. Then, on top of all that, I was quite a pretty girl. My long black hair fell slightly past my shoulders, my marginally pale skin seemed to glow when the sun touched it just right, and my admittedly curvaceous body attracted... too much attention. I dont want to sound ungrateful, but I hated the stereotypes that come with a body like mine. Slut, loose, stupid, or barbie. It doesnt bother me too much though. No matter how they choose to label me I always prove them wrong.

If there is a sad aspect of my life, its the fact that Im adopted. Make no mistake, I love my foster parents with all my heart. I wouldnt rather have anyone else. Theyd raised me since infancy. They told me that I was named after their first daughter who unfortunately perished in the crisis that shook Fairport City nearly sixteen years ago. The statement released to the public was that a company called Armacham was testing an experimental chemical weapon and that terrorists named Jim Sun-Kwan, Michael Becket, and one unknown terrorist referred to only as "The Point Man" stole the weapon from Armachams headquarters. Then they bombed the building, hoping that it would stall Armachams pursuit.

But it didnt.

Under pressure and with soldiers closing in, they activated the weapon and fled. This set off a devastating chain of events that began with the enormous explosion of Armachams facility, and ended with monsters that were apparently the result weapons effects on people, running wild about the city, killing anyone unlucky enough to wander into their line of sight. Then survivors started going mad from the waves of radiation emanating from the weapon and began worshipping a deity that they called Alma. Then the food ran out and they started eating each other. The government quarantined the entire area while the remains of Armachams security force attempted to find the weapon and stop the terrorists. Armacham did finally manage to deactivate the weapon, but the damage had already been done. Hundreds of people were dead and the majority of the remaining survivors were hopelessly insane. Then, to add to that, the terrorists who caused all of it were never caught. The only one that came close to being captured was Beckett, but he was later found murdered outside of an airport full of slaughtered Armacham soldiers. The other three have been on the "Most wanted list" ever since. My real parents were probably killed in the chaotic events that followed the activation of the weapon, but I had to say, whoever they were, they had great genes.

But enough of these negative thoughts, this was a happy day.

"Hey Lucy"! As I approached the imposing bulk of Fairport High School, I heard the familiar voice of my best friend Sarah ring out from behind me. We had known each other for most of our lives. When we met, she was three and I was four. We were the type of friends that grow up together, and stay close for the rest of our lives.

A real "BFF" you might say.

I turned to face her as she jubilantly trotted towards me.

"Youre early today. I usually beat you to school," she announced when she caught up.

"Yeah, I want to get today over with as soon as possible," I replied.

"You and me both," she said a bit more sincerely.

"Whats wrong," I asked as I picked up the change in her attitude from joviality to seriousness.

"Oh nothing probably. Im just worried about that research project we turned in to Mrs. Williford yesterday".

"Oh yeah... that," I said sourly, recalling the eight-page paper that we had to write for that stupid teacher. She was the only exception to my "Never dropped below a C+" record. It wasnt even because I did poorly in that subject, I mean its fucking English. Its just that Mrs. Williford is so damn biased. Since most of the assignments in her class were essays, she could pretty much just give you whatever grade she wanted to.

So if she disliked you, as in my case, then you were just shit out of luck.

I sighed heavily, Mrs. Williford was the hardest part of the entire year and this project would determine whether I passed or failed English.

Sarah sighed too, apparently thinking the same thing that I was.

"Yeah," she said slowly.

Mrs. Williford didnt like Sarah much either. I didnt know why though, she had never done anything wrong in that class. Maybe it was just because she was my friend...

"Sooo... how was your date with Josh," I asked, wanting to break the awkward silence.

Sarahs dejected aura evaporated as quickly as it had appeared. She then set about rattling off every single, tiny detail of the date with the "Man of her dreams" Josh Tucker while we entered the school building. We were greeted by the bright lights and deafening roar of hundreds of chattering teenagers talking about their respective plans for summer vacation that I had come to associate with Fairport High. We continued down the crowded hallways to our lockers, which were only a few spaces apart from each other.

Sarah was now telling me about how Josh had leaned over and kissed her when they were at the movies, and how it was the single, greatest moment of her entire life.

I rolled my eyes,smiling inwardly. Sarah could be so dramatic sometimes.

Her tirade was interuppted as the sound of the first period bell resonated from the speakers.

"Oh, well theres the bell. I guess Ill see you in third period then," she said when it stopped.

"Ill be there," I said blandly.

She walked off to her first class of the day, and I turned around and proceeded to my own.

My first four periods went by without incident. Sarah and I did chat a bit during third period before we were silenced by Mr. Dunning, our geography teacher. He was still trying to educate us on the importance of the Arabian Peninsula even on the last day of school.

However, fifth period was what I was really waiting for. That was Mrs. Willifords class. It was my least favorite period, but I did want to find out what grade I made on my research paper. I slowly approached the door, took a deep breath, and entered. Sarah was already seated at her desk, so I walked over and slipped into mine, which was right next to hers.

"You nervous," she asked when I sat down.

"A little," I replied.

That was a lie, I was VERY nervous.

Mrs. Williford was calling students up to her desk individually to inform them of the score they received on their paper.

"Timothy Welling," she called Tims name, and he walked to her desk and took a piece of paper from Mrs. Williford. He looked at it and sat back down.

"Hey Tim," Sarah whispered. "What did you get on your-".

"No talking in class Ms. Garder," came Mrs. Willifords condescending voice from her desk. "Not unless you wish to spend your first day next school year in detention".

"Bitch," Sarah muttered under her breath.

"What was that dear"?

"Nothing maam," Sarah lied.

Three more students went to Mrs. Willifords desk before Sarah was called.

"Sarah Garder," Mrs. Williford announced Sarahs name, and she stood and made her way to the front of the classroom. Mrs. Williford handed her the small slip of paper with her grade printed on it. She opened the paper and read it while seating herself once again. I opened my mouth to ask her what score she had made, but I remembered her mistake earlier and shut it. Instead I looked over at the paper that was now lying on her desk.

Seventy-four. Ouch.

After a few more of my classmates received their grades, my name was called.

"Lucy Morgan".

My legs felt like lead as I stood and slowly walked to Mrs. Willifords desk. She regarded me me with a scrutinizing gaze as I reached forward to take the small paper from her hand. I returned to my desk. I sat down, closed my eyes, unfolded the paper, opened them, and looked. My heart dropped into my stomach.

It was a fifty-two.I wanted to cry.

But my despair soon turned into anger. I raised my eyes to look that stupid bitch in the face. I swear to God that i saw her smirk at me. I had never been more outraged in my entire life. I was going to be forced to spend my vacation in summer school just because that petty teacher didnt like me. I saw Sarah look over at my paper in my peripheral vision. She gave me a sympathetic look that quickly turned into a worried one when she saw the raw hatred flowing from my eyes towards Mrs. Williford. I saw her give another student his paper, and when he walked away she picked up the bottle of asprin on her desk. I watched as she swallowed four of them.

Perhaps she suffered from a migraine. Whatever it was, I hoped it hurt like hell. I smiled with grim satisfaction when I saw her face contort in pain just as I finished the thought.

I closed my eyes in frustration, not believing the pure animosity that I felt towards this woman. I hated her so much. I wished she would just drop-

BOOM

Something wet landed on my cheek. I opened my eyes to the gruesome sight of Mrs. Williford slumped in her chair.

The entire top of her head of her head was gone.

No, not gone I amended. Just all over the walls.

I touched the wet spot on my cheek. I drew my finger back to inspect whatever terrible thing was on the end of it. To my horror, I discovered it was a small piecec of Mrs. Willifords skull.

Someone started to scream...

Authors Note: Sorry this chapter was do boring but I wanted her to be an ordinary teenager until her powers manifested. I really going to pick up the F.E.A.R. element in the second chapter. If you liked it then review. Once again if youve got any F.E.A.R. OCs you want to see in this story then leave their name and a VERY DETAILED description in your review. Also tips on how to write a girls POV would be appreciated. Please review is my point. Seriously.

Conflicting modification on June 28, 2011:


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

Disclaimer: I dont own F.E.A.R.

Authors note: Alright once again, sorry about the missing apostrophes, but theres nothing I can do about it. Im a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to grammar, so it probably bugs me more than it does you. Sorry this chapter is so short. It was supposed to be longer, but I wanted to update on independence day, and I thought this was a good stopping point. If you reviewed the last chapter then please review this one too. It really does make me want to write more of the story when I see all of the things you have to say about the story. So let me know if you love it, let me know if you hate it. Just please review if you read it. Let me know what you think of the way Im taking the story.

•Π•

So tired. Why was I so tired? Sirens blared all around me. There were police officers going from student to student trying to get a statement that made some kind of sense while a hazmat team went in to clean up the... mess. From what I could see, the officers were beginning to get frustrated. No matter what they asked, the children all said the same thing.

The teachers head had just exploded.

I let my head sink into my waiting hands when I saw a gurney carrying a body bag being wheeled out of the school.

The entire student body was being allowed to leave three hours early because of what had happened.

But what HAD happened?

Things like that werent normal. Id never heard of anything like it occuring anywhere before.

After I called my parents and told my father, whom was I was speaking to, everything, he had first asked if I was okay. After replying with a shaken confirmation, I asked him if he would pick me up in his car.

I didnt think Id be able to walk home right now.

I wanted to think. To try and solve the problem that had presented itself to me, but I was having too much trouble just trying to keep myself from passing out.

It was as if all of the life had been drained out of me.

I looked up as someone sat down on the bench next to me. It was a girl. Id say she was approximately nine-ten years old. She was far too young to be attending high school, so I figured she must be here with her parents while they waited for her older brother or sister.

"Whats wrong," she asked me.

"Nothing, Im just exhausted," I said, letting my eyes wander to the ground.

"Oh... you know youre the one who did it right," she asked me in a cheerful voice.

"Did what," I asked.

"Nothing," she said, childishly mimicking my earlier tone and giggling.

I rolled my eyes.

"Whats your name," she continued.

"Lucy," I replied. "Yours"?

She was silent for a moment, then her answer came almost as a whisper.

"Alma".

I raised my head again. That had gotten my attention.

"Wasnt that-," I cut myself off as I turned to face her.

She was gone.

I scanned the large crowd, but she was nowhere to be seen.

I frowned, had that really just happened?

Then someone tapped my shoulder and I jumped nearly a foot into the air from my seated position.

"Whats wrong," came the concerned voice of my father, unknowingly quoting the strange girl.

I sighed wearily.

"Nothing," I said again, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Lets go," he said. "You shouldnt have to see this".

•Π•

We were driving home when my father turned around in his seat, a confused look on his face.

"Why did you want me to pick you up in the car, the house is only an eight minute walk away"?

I fought to stay awake until we arrived at home.

"I can barely keep my eyes open, I just wilted all of a sudden," I answered.

We pulled into the driveway a few minutes later. My mother rushed out of the house to meet us before the car was even turned off.

She opened my door and proceeded to check me for injuries and fever.

I couldnt help smiling faintly as she worried over me.

I assured her that I was fine and just wanted to go to bed.

She reluctantly stooped her inspection, and settled for hugging me tightly instead. I returned her embrace before shuffling up the stairs to my room. I laid down on my bed, not even bothering to remove my school clothes, and fell asleep the second my head made contact with the pillow.

The blackness was immediately replaced by a white void. All at once, the empty space was filled with hundreds of separate images.

A tree with a little swing, an operating table, two boys in a cramped room, a man with short hair and light stubble, two men fighting a large group of soldiers, and a little girl in a red dress.

Then it hit me. Memories. They were memories. But who did they belong to?

"Theyre mine," a voice said from behind me.

I turned to face to same little girl from earlier. Odd, she had answered my question as though she had been reading my mind. But more important, what the hell was she doing in my dreams?

I decided to ignore her. After all, she was most likely an image drawn up from my subconscious based on the-.

"Im not a part of your overactive imagination," she said solemnly. "Im really here".

I turned back again, shocked.

"Who are you," I asked.

"I already told you my-".

"No, I mean who are you really"?

She paused looking at me with those strange glowing eyes.

"Im your mother," she said.

"Thats impossible," I began. "Youre too y-".

Then the little girl in front of me grew into a woman.

I was speechless.

"Im your mother," she repeated.

"Y-y-youre not lying are you," I asked shakily.

She shook her head gravely.

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to calm myself.

"Tell me everything," I said.

"You-," she started to say something then stopped. She cocked her head and looked into the air, as though listening to something inaudible to my ears.

"What is it," I asked.

"You need to wake up now," she said in an urgent tone.

"Why," I asked worried about what was going on.

"Some very dangerous people have just broken into your home. You need to wake up... NOW"!

I bolted upright in my bed. It had been four hours and seventeen minutes since I went to sleep.

I was just swinging my feet onto the floor when I heard the gunfire.

Authors note: So do you guys like it? I was going to make this chapter longer but I wanted it to be an independence day present from yours truly. I already know where the next chapter is going so the update shouldnt take long. Please review this chapter even if you already reviewed the last one  
>it really does make me write faster. I have some OCs from some readers that will come in next chapter. If you want me to put in your F.E.A.R. OC then send me their name and a very detailed description in a private message.<p>


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

Disclaimer: I dont own F.E.A.R.

Authors note: WHOO! I got around to including everyones OCs in this chapter. Review please. Oh and if any of my readers are deviantART members then I would love a picture based off my story. OCs belong to their respective owners. But everything that they say and do is all me.

•Π•

Oh no. No no no no. Who were those shots killing? It couldnt be me. Was it my parents? Were they safe in their own room, or were they downstairs lying in a growing pool of blood?

I leapt out of my bed. Just as I began to reach for the door to my room, I heard thundering footsteps on the stairs. I withdrew my hand as the door was kicked off its hinges. It flew backwards, slamming into my head and throwing me to the floor like a ragdoll.

The pain was diminished by the adrenaline coursing through my veins, but I could feel blood from the gash on my forehead flowing down into my eyes.

I looked up through my red tinted vision to see what looked to be Mt. Everest shouldering its way past my door frame.

It was the most colossal thing I had ever seen. It was easily eight and a half feet(2.5908 meters) tall. Electricity crackled across the lightning rods protruding from the upper back and shoulders of its suit. Hexagonal shapes moved all over its massive form. It held a rifle the size of one of my legs in its right hand.

The left reached forward and closed its strong, metallic fingers around my throat.

It lifted me up off the ground as though I weighed no more than a bottle of water.

"Hello little witch," its voice was hard and mocking as it squeezed tighter.

I gasped for air and struggled feebly against its unbreakable grasp.

It only laughed and applied more pressure.

Then a much smaller figure stepped through the decimated doorway. The newcomer looked from the giant to me nonchalantly, as if it were examining an air conditioner.

"Dont strangle her to death Alexander, we were ordered to take her alive," the voice was feminine and smooth like cool metal.

"Dont tell me things that I already know Danielle," the gargantuan man called Alexander replied with a barley concealed menace. "She deserves to be hurt".

"Now isnt the time for that," the other one, Danielle if memory served, said back. Then with a chuckle, she added,"After Aristide is finished you can do whatever you wish with her, as promised".

This seemed to satisfy Alexander. He dropped me and I felt oxygen reenter my lungs. The relief didnt last long however, because then I saw his enormous fist speeding towards my face.

It made contact and stars exploded across my vision. Before I blacked out, I heard the woman chuckle again.

"You know, a tranquilizer would have worked just as well".

•Π•

I woke up to an intense light. I squinted and put my hand in front of my face in an attempt to intercept some of it before it reached my eyes. After they adjusted a bit, I could see that I was in a small, brightly lit room.

Agony throbbed in my head like a tormenting heartbeat.

"Oh good, youre awake".

I yelped at the sudden vocalization from right beside me.

I sprung up from whatever I was lying on and put my back against the opposite wall to better see what had just spoken to me.

It was that woman, Danielle, from earlier.

She was still wearing the same soldier equipment. With exception of the helmet, which was placed on the bench beside her. Along with a very frightening looking rifle laid across her lap.

Her posture was relaxed, both feet on the floor with one hand holding the stock of the weapon, her finger resting on the trigger. The other was under her chin supporting her cocked head like she had been leaning against the arm of a sofa.

She was surprisingly young, maybe twenty-six or a little older. Dark hair outlined her delicate, porcelain-like features.

The expression on her face was mocking, with a jeering smile at my startled reaction to her unexpected appearance.

"So youre Almas daughter? Its remarkable really, I never wouldve suspected that you were anything more than an ordinary teenager. Fortunately for us you killed someone with your powers and lit up on my psychic radar," she said tapping her head,"Or we may never have found you".

She studied my face for a moment, trying to gauge my expression.

"You dont have a damn clue what Im talking about do you," she asked.

I said nothing.

"Shall I take your silence as a no"?

Nothing.

She sighed irritably.

"Fine, I suppose I could explain it all to you. At least it will give me something to do for the next half hour," she began.

She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Hmmm, were should I start," she asked herself.

"Alright, so during the war in Vietnam, the communications between soldier and commander werent up to par. So, to fix this, the government starts something called Project Origin and gives the assignment to Armacham Technology Corporation. Its objective was to create psychic commanders with the ability to telepathically send orders to clone soldiers called replicas. Conveniently, one of the scientists, Harlan Wade had a psychic daughter named Alma".

Alma, my mother...

"So they bring Alma to a nuclear plant on Still Island to run a few tests on her. However, she proved too difficult to control, so they moved her to the Origin facility and put her into a stasis vault. Because Alma couldnt be worked with, they decided to use her body to create more commanders that could be. So they artificially insaminated Alma with a genetically modified embryo. The baby called Prototype One was born nine months later during an induced labor on Alma. After the birth they put Alma back into her coma, and began their testing on this new commander. He was later pronounced a failure because he wasnt psychic. So they tried again. Nine months later, during another induced labor, Alma gives birth to Prototype Two. They gave him the name Paxton at Almas request before they put her back into that same state of suspended animation that shed been in all her life. To give him a last name, they chose one that none of the scientists had, Fettel. Now, he was a different story than the first son. He was a psychic,just like his mother. But there was one drawback, Alma could talk to him, even from the vault. The first time she synchronized herself with him, he killed seven people before they finally shot him with enough tranquilizers. After that Project Origin was dubbed a failure. ATC shut down the facility and Almas life support was terminated. She died six days later".

She paused, giving me a moment to absorb all of this information. Then she continued.

"Then along comes Project Harbinger. Now, this was basically the same idea as Origin, but its objective was to create the commanders without the use of Alma. At first it was a success, the candidates could control the replicas just fine. But apparently their brains couldnt handle the extra stress caused by the surgically implanted psychic amplifiers called diodes. The subjects all went insane except for three. Holiday, Keegan, and Becket. They were the only ones to show any long-term potential. So they were all given drugs that suppressed their memories of their time with Armacham, and put on a military team called Dark Signal until they could be of further use. Now, back to Fettel. He had been in the Origin facility since birth. He was now a grown man. As it turns out, even after Alma died, her psychic influence remained. She triggered another synchronicity event with Fettel. This time he was far more dangerous. He took control of all of the replica troops and used them to take over the building in a violent uprising. Meanwhile, the president of ATC, Genivieve Aristide, decided that this was the perfect to test the true potential of Prototype One. So the government sends in the F.E.A.R. squad. Thats an acronym for first encounter assault recon. What these men do is combat paranormal threats against national security. Prototype One, now called the Point Man, was a member. Along with Jin Sun-Kwon, Spencer Jankowski, and Rodney Betters".

She took a deep breath.

"Short version: Spencer dies, Point Man kills Fettel, Rodney disappears, and they blow up the facility. Aristide reports that Point Man is a bigger success then they realized. So now she has to draw Alma away from him so he can be... reprogrammed. So she calls in Dark Signal. She tells Becket that he needs to kill Alma and tricks him into amplifying his psychic powers. But in truth, all this does is make him a beacon for her. Alma chases him into the amplifier on Still Island. Aristides locks them in together, and Alma rapes him. Then-".

"WHAT," I interrupted her, not believing my ears.

"Ah, so you can speak," she said grinning sarcastically.

"What did you say she did"?

"She raped him".

"May I ask how you know all of this"?

"Im Aristides assistant and bodyguard. Im briefed on all of the details".

"So youre telling me that she raped him"?

"Thats what I told you. Alright, so for nine more months Becket is our prisoner. All he does the entire day is rant about how Alma is pregnant... again. Then, all of a sudden, things start going really bad. These big waves of psychic energy begin emanating outward from a point in the city. As it turns out Alma was giving birth... to you".

As she said that last part, she looked up at me, raising one eyebrow and trying to judge my reaction to being told that I was the cause for all of the appalling things that had happened to to Fairport sixteen years ago.

I felt sick. Like I wanted to vomit, but couldnt. This was all too much. Everything that I had been told my entire life was a lie. The terrorists were actually the heroes. ATC was really to blame for almost ending the world.

"So you come into the world, and Aristide is in deep shit with the board of directors. To save herself from being fired, and probably executed she needs to think of something fast. Thats when she learns that one of our soldiers has been transformed into a psychic. Aristide has some tests done on him and finds something interesting. During the time that the psychic energy was coming from Alma, this particular soldier had an excessive amount of Boron in his system. Now, Boron is an element essential to the brain. It affects your mental awareness and, as Aristide found out that day, when you have enough in you; coupled with exposure to psychic energy; it can increase your brain capacity from ten percent to forty-eight percent. In laymans terms, it can turn any normal person into a marginally powerful psychic. With this information, Aristide proposed four new projects: Prometheus, Hercules, Artemis, and Zeus. The goal of Hercules was to make soldiers that can kill the Point Man. We obviously dont need him anymore. Youve already met the most promising subject in that category. Its Alexander Burnwood, the behemoth of a man who is undoubtedly going to torture and kill you after we finish taking everything we need. The goal of Prometheus is to make thousands of psychics by lacing the water supply of highly populated areas with Boron, and recreating Almas waves. Weve already done the easy part. Now were building a machine that can make the waves, but were missing one ingredient, Almas DNA".

She leaned in closer to me and smiled cruelly.

"And thats were you come in".

They were going to use my DNA to reenact what happened in Fairport. Except this time it would be everywhere in the U.S. And it would turn a third of the population into psychics. And when they had what they needed, they were going to give me to that monster. They couldnt afford to have me around, I was a wild card. I had blown someones head clean off with my mind. Who knew what I would do next?

"Theyre not just going to do whatever you say," I tried to expose a flaw in their plan.

"Oh were just going to blame it on your brother again. Get everyones sense of patriotism stirred up".

"What about the ones who dont believe you"?

"Thats what Project Artemis is for. It trains the high ranking soldiers like me into psychic bloodhounds. Throw in a few genetic enhancements in, and were the perfect psychic hunters. Its how we found you so quickly".

"What about Project Zeus," I asked.

"Oh thats nothing. It was supposed to give Almas powers to an ordinary person, but it didnt work. The closest we got was with a little boy named Aaron. I believe hes around your age now".

I opened my mouth to say something when the door to the cell opened, and a young blonde woman stepped into the room with us. Her collar was low enough that I could see what looked to be burn scars on the right side of her neck that reached farther downward under her shirt. Her right hand seemed to be twitching a bit.

"What is it Main," Danielle asked the woman.

"The dose of anesthesia is ready commander," Mains voice was a thin rasp. It sounded as though she didnt use it much.

Main held out a needle, which Danielle eagerly took. With inhuman speed, she lunged forward and slid it perfectly into my neck.

She depressed the plunger, and I collapsed to the cold floor, clutching at the area were she had pulled the needle out.

"Sweet dreams," she said caustically.

Even as the blackness closed in from around the fringes of my vision, I could hear her dark laughter echoing through my ears.

•Π•

Authors note: Alexander looks like a really big Phase Commander. Danielle and Alexander: Alardem, Main:BrazeRancor, Aaron: TheDude5000 Yes I know anesthesia is a gas, but you can just ignore that. Do you guys like how I performed your OCs? Do you like my plans for this story? Please review and give me all of your feedback.


	4. Chapter IV

Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.

I found a solution to the application problem. YAY! Now sit back and enjoy. GODDAMNIT! Sorry this one took so long. I think I just had my first writer's block. Anyway just review and give me your feedback.

Once again, I was thrust into the white vacuum in which Alma had appeared to me. Only this time, she was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a battered steel door looming over me. The words "Project Origin Ward Facility" were printed across it in slightly faded, black letters.

I took a few frantic steps backward, remembering what Danielle had told me about the operation that had created truly horrifying monsters… Created me.

I was terrified to be anywhere near that door, but I glanced around and discovered that it was the only place to go.

Bracing myself, I reluctantly stepped up to the foreboding aperture.

As if knowing that I was there, it slowly groaned open. A shower of dust drifted down from the edges where it scraped against the invisible frame of whatever building it permitted entrance to.

I walked forward into a dim, barley lit room. One wall was made almost entirely of one-way glass overlooking an even smaller room.

There were strange drawings covering the walls of the smaller room. I was mesmerized by the seemingly meaningless markings until I heard the door at the opposite end of the room I was in creak open.

Snapping out of my reverie, my eyes shot to the impenetrable blackness behind the still opening door.

"Sister...," I jumped at the snakelike voice that sounded from somewhere in the dark.

A man slowly stepped out of the shadows.

He was surrounded by a reddish haze, his piercing eyes gazed steadily into my frightened ones.

"Don't fret over the position you're in on the outside sister, brother is coming to save you." he said deliberately.

He kept calling me sister. Point Man wasn't psychic and therefore, couldn't visit me in this dreamlike state. So this must be Paxton Fettel, the insane middle child.

It seemed that he could sense my fear.

"You shouldn't be afraid of me sister. After all, I'm nowhere near as powerful as you."

I was stronger than Paxton Fettel? I was stronger than the man who had taken out entire buildings full of soldiers in less than an hour? There was no way that was true.

Seeing the disbelief flash across my features, he spoke again.

"You are the reincarnation of our mother. You're potential power is completely limitless, you just have to learn how to use it."

He paused as everything thing around us began to fade away.

"You are waking up sister, time to meet your other sibling. Oh, and welcome to the family."

My eyes snapped open. Someone was shouting orders at the top of their lungs.

"TAKE DEFENSIVE POSITIONS! LINE UP YOUR SITES ON THE DOOR. NO ONE GETS THROUGH TO THE GIRL!"

I examined my surroundings. I was lying on a gurney beside the door to my cell, as if I was being wheeled back when something had interrupted the task.

But what had done that?

I didn't have to wait long for the answer.

BAM! BAM!

I looked over the railing to see every soldier in the room aiming their weapons at the massive steel door that separated the cell block from the rest of the facility.

However, the door itself is what attracted my attention.

It was covered in huge dents.

BAM! BAM!

Two more dents suddenly appeared. It looked like something was trying to beat its way through.

But what the fuck could do that?

I watched in awe as the door suffered four more blows before finally being broken completely off its frame.

But instead of falling, it just stood for a moment before flying backwards, taking eight soldiers with it.

In the now empty doorway stood two men.

One was armed with an assault rifle, the other with nothing. Both were clad in generic military armor and equipment, including helmets.

The Armacham guards didn't hesitate, and immediately opened fire on the pair.

The unarmed one held up one hand and the bullets all ricocheted off of something, as though there was an invisible wall separating the pair from their opponents.

While the stray bullets fell uselessly to the floor, the armed man stepped forward and, within the space of two seconds, fatally shot every remaining guard.

The unarmed man was the first to speak.

"Alright, she should be in one of these cells. Let's get her out quickly before we bump into any of those freaks from Artemis or Hercules." he said curtly.

The other man didn't give any reply, but simply began looking through the bars of each individual cell.

I crouched down before I was seen. I didn't know what to make of these two.

On one hand, they were total strangers who had just killed seventeen guards in a matter of seconds. They could be worse than Armacham for all I knew.

On the other, one seemed to be a powerful psychic, and maybe he could give me some answers about all of this. What choice did I have anyway? If I didn't leave this place I'd be killed regardless.

Needless to say, I didn't like my options.

I eventually decided to go with the newcomers.

"Up here," I said in a quiet, uncertain tone.

They both immediately spun to face me.

The unarmed one cringed violently before composing himself once again.

The other stared at me, still remaining silent. Suddenly I wished that I could see his expression behind that helmet.

"What do you want from me?" I asked, curious of their mysterious motives.

"We're here to get you out before they have a chance to kill you; if you want to live then I suggest haste. If Alexander happens to find us, then we'll all be exterminated like we were nothing but insects" the psychic man said.

I shuddered, remembering the terrifying behemoth called Alexander. I could still feel his enormous fingers around my neck.

That spurred my desire to be out of this place as quickly as possible, but I was still wary.

"Why would you want to keep me from being killed?"

"Please Lucy there's no time for these questions. We'll explain everything as soon as we're out of here. Until then you'll just have to trust us." he said.

I relented, picking up the underlying urgency in his otherwise calm voice.

I sighed and quickly made my way down to where they stood, waiting for me

They both nodded and the psychic said "Stay right behind us. There's a car outside, we just have to make it there."

I nodded back and he said "Okay let's go."

We began walking towards the huge empty door frame.

After passing it, a gruesome sight met my eyes.

The entire room was filled with bodies. Somewhere slumped against the blood covered walls, gunshot wounds littering their lifeless corpses. Others were hanging from the ceiling, their fluids dripping down on us. There were headless bodies, torn in half bodies, and bare skeletons scattered all over the room.

I looked at the psychic man's back, recalling what he had done to that steel door.

Was I seeing the effects that had on a human body?

We crossed the corpse ridden room and many others like it. Just how many people had they killed to reach me?

When we finally made it outside, I found that they were telling the truth…, about the waiting car anyway.

The silent man got into the driver's seat and turned the keys in the ignition. The psychic got into the passenger's seat and gestured for me to get in the back.

I felt like a child, but I did as I was told.

The second that I shut my door, the silent man put his foot down on the gas pedal and we sped away. I looked out of the back window and, with tremendous relief, watched the Armacham building rapidly fade into the distance.

I turned around at a sound from the front. The two men were removing their helmets. I studied their, now revealed, faces.

The psychic one was just a teenager, no older than me. In fact, I could've sworn that I'd seen him somewhere before.

The other had long, black hair and a beard. I realized that I had seen him in Alma's memories. And on every "Most Wanted" TV show that I had ever watched.

The Point Man.

The psychic looked back at me and said," I'm sure you have a lot of questions. We need you to trust us, so I'll tell you anything that you want to know."

I tried to think of a question and asked the first thing that came to my mind.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Aaron Carter. I believe you were in my third period Lucy." he said smiling.

I knew I recognized him! He was the kid that had beaten me in a race when I used to run track.

"And this is... well I don't really know his name. We just call him Point Man." he continued.

"We?" I asked.

"Oh we're in this group of people that have been branded fugitives and terrorists. We have to bring down Armacham before they eventually kill everyone on the planet".

"Is that were you're taking me?" I asked.

"Yeah, we just found out that Armacham… OH SHIT!" He suddenly yelled.

"Lucy did they take anything off you. Like hair or skin?"

"They sedated me. I don't know what they did while I was out." I replied.

"FUCK!" he screamed, punching the dashboard.

He turned back to be and asked "Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah," I said. "They're going to make thousands of people into psychics and blame it on us."

"That's right. They're going to start a war with the other countries. World War Three is coming." he said gravely.

He looked back at me wearily, looking decades older than he was.

"Do you have any other questions?" he asked me.

"Just one, why did you flinch like that when you first saw me?"

A scowl crossed his features when he answered me.

"Because you look just like your mother." he said in a hard tone.

Author's note: I don't really like how the encounter with Fettel turned out it's too OOC you know. So Aaron makes his first physical appearance in this chapter. Hope you liked it Mr. TheDude5000.


	5. Chapter V

Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.

Author's note: Alright so I have good news. I've gotten one of my readers to help me with this problem and now everything should be working just fine on . Chapter four has been repaired so you guys can read that now. So deviantART readers go find it there for a clearer read. It's going to be uploaded on deviantART first from now on. But it should be posted on shortly. We even have apostrophes now. Yay! So this chapter may be a bit short but that's mostly because I just want to spread the word that the story is fine now. Tell your friends.

After that, Aaron turned around in his seat with a bitter look on his face as if he had tasted something foul.

Odd...

I was left to reflect on his grim ultimatum. World War Three he had said. An entire army of psychic soldiers, dark intentions for their use, and the possible impending apocalypse.

God.

Just... what were we going to do? How were we going to combat this threat to the entire fate of humanity?

And what the hell was I doing in the middle of all of this. Just yesterday I was nothing more than an orphaned teenage girl, and in the blink of an eye I changed into a killer, a doomsday weapon, and a fugitive.

I kept hoping that this was all just a bad dream. That I would wake up home in my old bed. That everything would go back to the way it had been before.

But it was stupid of me to think like that. Things had changed, and nothing would ever be the same again.

Author's note: Like I said, extremely short. But the point of this chapter is to get the word out that everything is fine now. You can start looking forward to updates once again. Thank you for your patience. Oh and chapter four has been repaired as well you should read it now.


	6. Chapter VI

Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.

Author's note: Here's the next chapter. In this one I'm going to give you guys a bit of history on two OCs submitted by my readers: Danielle and Aaron. I didn't intend to do that at first but the chapter just sort of turned out that way. I hope that you guys enjoyed the fourth chapter despite the technical difficulties that presented themselves. I'm writing this story again now that everything is working out fine. Enjoy and review.

I dropped my head into my hands, something I did whenever I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. It seemed appropriate in my current situation, if I considered the staggering amount of things I had to think about at the moment. However, only one thought dominated my immediate conscience.

What now?

I was being driven to some unknown location where an equally unknown fate awaited me. While the two men in the front of the car didn't seem to be my enemies, that didn't mean that I trusted them yet, and what of their companions? Aaron had explained that he and Point Man were members of a group of people that, like myself, where being hunted by Armacham because of previous encounters with the sinister corporation.

They surely would have heard of Alma Wade... and me.

How would they feel when I was brought to whatever place they resided in? Outraged, angry, afraid?

Ha. That was funny, me, frightening. I didn't even know how to use whatever power I had. And even if I did, there was no way I could be half as strong as Aaron who had ripped a steel door off its hinges and killed eight men with it as easily as a disgruntled child would have picked up and thrown a useless, broken toy.

"You're a Wade." a hushed voice sighed in my head.

I snapped to attention. What the hell was that? It had wisped through my brain like a thought, but it certainly wasn't one of mine. It hadn't been Alma or Fettel's voice either. It was something else, something else that could talk to me inside my brain.

Spooky.

That got me thinking about my real name. It was Lucy Wade wasn't it? Not. Lucy Morgan the name I had received from my adoptive parents. I prayed that they were okay, prayed that they never had to meet the gargantuan soldier Alexander or psychic assassin Danielle. But the practical side of me said they were long dead by now.

My heart sank a bit lower, if that was even possible.

Then a new question came to me and I tapped on Aaron's shoulder.

He turned to face me; his features were placid as he responded to my physical prodding, "What is it?"

"How did you know where I was," I asked him.

He grimaced before answering, "Your mother told me."

"My mother told you?" I said confused, before continuing my question, "You can see her?"

Whereas Point Man had been calmly driving before, he now seemed very interested in our conversation. He slightly craned his ear to hear better as Aaron replied, "Yes, she can interact with me just like she can with you."

"Why," I asked, curious as to the reason for his strange repulsed gestures whenever the topic of my mother came to the front.

"Becau- wait, you said that you knew about Project Prometheus when I asked if you did earlier right?"

"Yes," I replied, cautious of his sudden change in tone.

"How do you know about that if you didn't know any of this existed yesterday?"

"Umm... because the person guarding me explained it," I said, feeling stupid. There was no way he would believe that my guard had just up and decided to tell me everything about Armacham's history with testing human weapons.

But instead of a suspicious glare, he simply pressed for more information, "Who was guarding you?"

"A woman named Danielle."

"Danielle? Why would she even bother telling you anything?"

"From what I could tell, it was because she was bored. She said that I was going to be killed anyway and telling me would at least give her something to do."

Aaron closed his eyes, apparently believing my story.

"Yeah, that sounds like something Danielle would do." he said slowly.

"You've met her," I asked him.

"Yeeeaaahhh." he drawled slowly, "Since Danielle told you about Prometheus, I trust she also mentioned Zeus?"

"She said that they tried to give Alma's powers to a normal person. She told me that the project failed though. That you were the most successful subject." I recounted Danielle's words.

"Yes well, that project started when I was three. Now Danielle was the most promising product of Project Artemis, which created hunters designed to kill the new psychics that were made by Prometheus if they didn't follow Armacham's plans for them. Artemis was like a better version of Project Icarus. Project Icarus was formed to modify a soldier's bones to be lighter and less dense so that they would be more agile. They were outfitted with a special type of cloaking armor that aided them in their occupation as assassins for the company. The soldiers produced by Icarus and Artemis are very similar to each other, but the results of the experiments of Project Artemis were far more successful."

I was suddenly struck by a bout of lightheadedness which I had come to associate with the flashbacks I had recently begun to receive in my dreams. Was I going to start experiencing them all of the time now?

For a moment, I saw through someone else's eyes. I saw men appearing out of nowhere, jumping nimbly across the walls, and swinging clawed gauntlets at my head. Those were Icarus soldiers? And the ones from Artemis were even better than that? AND the strongest of all of them was probably hounding my trail right this second?

I felt icy shards of fear piercing through my body all the way through to my soul.

Aaron patiently waited for me to compose myself before he began speaking again.

"Project Artemis was started three years before Zeus. This was carefully timed by Armacham so that the subjects of Zeus could be controlled by those of Artemis. If they would have started Zeus first, they would have found themselves with a bunch of overpowered children with no way to enforce the more roguish members of the group. So Artemis was started first so their soldiers could serve a double purpose. Keeping us in line and killing the psychics that didn't follow their predicted course. Each Artemis hunter was given a child to closely watch over. Danielle was my jailor throughout my entire time with Armacham. She was just thirteen then, but she was still able to easily defeat anyone that they pitted her against."

"What do you mean she could defeat anyone that they pitted her against?" I questioned.

"Oh they would put her in a room with some of their toughest ordinary soldiers. Sometimes it would be an entire, fully armed squad fighting little Danielle. But no matter how many there were or what they were equipped with, she would always just beat the hell out all of them easy as that." he said, snapping his fingers.

"You sound like you admire her." I said, raising an eyebrow.

"My personal feelings toward her aren't relevant. It was still pretty damn impressive."

I shuddered, remembering Danielle's blindingly quick movement from the last time that I had seen her.

"Danielle acted strange, like she was crazy or something." I said.

Aaron chuckled quietly to himself, as if revisiting a particularly humorous memory.

After finishing, he looked back at me again, "Yes, she is very... odd."

"You talk about her like she's an old friend."

"Well we were paired together when I was only three. I guess I looked at her as an older sister of sorts despite her fucked up sense of humor. I mean, she WAS my only role model."

He chuckled again, "It's a good thing that I didn't turn out like Danielle. However, if I did pick up one personality trait from her, it's laughing at the wrong things."

"So she wasn't all bad," I asked.

"Oh yes she is. She may have been just a little girl, but she's always been all bad. She's sadistic, without remorse, and probably insane. I even tried to kill her a few times while I was a prisoner, and, disregarding our past, she wouldn't hesitate to kill me."

"Well how did you escape from Armacham then?"

"I didn't escape. They put me in that school so that they could watch me and still keep themselves safe."

"What does that mean?"

"Well it's not like they explained it to me, but I have a theory. I think that they realized how powerful I was becoming, that, at any moment, I could just start destroying everything until I was killed. But they also knew I wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. So to avoid risking all that expensive lab equipment, they put me in a school and surrounded me with innocents. But then again, that's just a theory."

"Weren't they worried that you'd tell someone?"

"Oh come now. Imagine what would happen if a seventeen year old went around trying to tell civilians that there was a huge government conspiracy going on right behind their backs, and that he was a powerful psychic. Then, when asked to demonstrate these abilities, he refused, saying that he didn't want to hurt anyone. I'd either be ignored or labeled insane. No, Armacham knew that I wouldn't be able to tell anyone about their experiments."

"What about the others? You said that there was more than one of you."

"They were probably killed. Did Danielle tell you about what happened to the failed subjects of Project Harbinger?"

"Yes, she said that they all turned into abominations."

"Well... that happened, though not quite as bad. They didn't start crawling around on four legs, or turn feral. They just... shut down. Stopped talking, stopped eating, and stopped listening. I didn't want these powers I have, but I still count myself lucky every day."

He lowered his eyes to the floor, saddened by the callous cruelty of Armacham. I found myself sympathizing with him, him and all of the other defenseless children whose lives were stolen from them. I didn't know which was worse: having your mind erased or being forced to live as a walking weapon. How many of us were out in the world right now. How many people had been touched by Armacham, and were doomed to live a life of pain and suffering. I looked down at my hands. The curse of Armacham flowed strong in my veins. I could suddenly feel it, feel the power that lay dormant inside me.

It burned.

"You said the project started when you were three. What about those first years," I asked, surprised at how my voice grated.

"I don't remember them. No one did. None of us remembered family or friends. There were older children who had years missing from their memories. Like Danielle. She can't recall the first ten years of her life, just blackness, then gene therapy and combat training. I don't even think Danielle Liu is really her name. Hell, Aaron Carter might not be my name, but it's the only one I know."

I was going to ask something else, but I was cut off as the car pulled to a stop.

Aaron looked out of the window as Point Man opened his door.

"Oh, we're here," he said.

Author's note: Alright there's a bit of backstory on two characters. Not all of it obviously, but a little. Please review or comment. Aaron belongs to TheDude5000 Danielle belongs to Alardem. Everything they say and do, and most of their history, belongs to me.


	7. Chapter VII

Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.

Author's note: Lucy won't be helpless for much longer...

Having completely immersed myself in our conversation, I hadn't noticed the car pulling up to a decrepit apartment complex.

Stepping out of the car, I swept my eyes over my surroundings. I took in the crumbling buildings and people, deducing that we were in the poor district of Fairport.

I let my gaze wander upwards to the darkening sky. Cumulonimbus clouds covered the afternoon sun.

The crystallized particles of water vapor screamed to be free from their prison. To fall the countless stories to the thirsty soil.

A storm was approaching.

As if hearing my thoughts, a bolt of lightning lanced across the black clouds.

A sudden chill crept through my spine at the idea of me controlling nature herself.

I jumped when Point Man tapped my shoulder, snapping me out of my daydreaming.

I looked over at my MUCH older brother. He was watching me in a passive manner, his ever-unreadable expression remaining so. Minute flecks of gray dotted his beard and long hair, not at all unusual for a man, approximately, in his mid-forties. What was unusual was his impressively maintained physique. Being just out of his prime didn't appear to be slowing him down a bit.

Seeing Aaron already knocking on a door, I realized that I must've been looking at the sky for a quite a while.

I started towards the door, only for Point Man to bar my way with his arm.

I looked back at him, confused. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He pointed his index finger at the ground, signaling for me to stay where I was. Then, he went in behind Aaron. The door slammed shut behind them.

I felt really uncomfortable just standing there like an idiot, so I decided to walk up to the door and listen. As I leaned in, I could barely hear the muffled voices inside.

"Shit!" I muttered to myself. I couldn't make out the words.

I pressed my ear to the door harder, as if expecting a better result. If only I could hear better...

I almost went deaf.

The voices from inside the apartment suddenly sounded like they were being shouted through a megaphone directly into my ear. Caught off guard by the thundering noise, I recoiled violently from the door.

I fell to my knees and clutched my head in an attempt to stop the pounding. It was too loud, I couldn't take it.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the noise died down to its normal level.

Still holding my throbbing head, my analytical mind began mulling over the incident. I wanted to hear better, then I could. I wanted the noise to quiet down, and it did. The solution that came up was ridiculous.

There was no way I could adjust the volume reception on my hearing.

Was there?

I supposed that I really wasn't in a good position to determine what was possible and what wasn't.

Uncertain, I stood and pinched my chin in thought. After a moment, I decided to test my theory. I concentrated on making the voices inside just a tiny bit louder.

They rose higher.

I went rigid with shock. This was... unbelievable. What else hadn't I discovered?

The voices were very clear. They were arguing over something.

"What about that little bitch with the sniper rifle huh? What the fuck are we going to do about her? She can track that THING from miles away."

That was someone I didn't recognize, and she wasn't too fond of me.

"Danielle can track me too, and you didn't seem too opposed to having me on the team," Aaron's voice retorted.

"That's because-."

"Because I'm not Alma's son." Aaron interjected.

"Well-," the stranger's voice tried before being interrupted again.

"If anyone has any reason to hate Alma that's understandable. But her daughter is a completely different person. It doesn't matter what any of us think about her. The fact is, we are in some serious trouble, and that is the most powerful psychic ever born. You know I can sense things too, and I can practically smell the energy coming off her. She's the best chance we have at beating Armacham," Aaron said.

I frowned. They expected me to help them?

"The kid's right Jin. We can use all the help we can get right now, especially if she's a relative of Point Man's. Speaking of help, what exactly can this girl do?" another voice I didn't recognize.

"I don't know what her powers are. She didn't even know she could do anything until two days ago. I plan on helping her discover her full potential and, eventually, reach it. She's... different though. Based on the raw power emanating from her, I believe she may even be stronger than Alma herself."

Stronger than Alma? I didn't know if that was good or bad. I concentrated hard, trying to feel what Aaron felt. I remembered the intense burning I from earlier. Was that what he was referring to? I did feel something. It was like some primal animal, crouching deep inside me, waiting for the perfect moment to reveal itself.

"Oh well, in any case, we should bring her inside. She been through one helluva weekend." the male voice said.

"Hold on I'll get- oh wait. Before I bring her inside, you need to know she looks just like Alma. Don't freak out or anything when you see her."

"Aaron we've seen alot of freaky things in these past twenty years. How bad can she be?" asked the man who seemed to be a reasonable enough person.

Meanwhile I'd trotted back to the car so they wouldn't know I'd been listening.

"Rodney, she scared the shit out of me the first time I saw her. That's how bad. Well actually she doesn't look exactly like Alma, I mean her hair's a little different." Aaron said as he opened the door.

He stepped out and called for me to come inside.

I walked over to him and he leaned in and whispered into my ear, "Just follow me okay?"

I nodded. He about faced and strode back in, and I cautiously followed.

I only heard two people talking to Aaron, but there was a whole fucking team of them in here.

And they were all staring at me.

Needless to say, I didn't like it. I tried to read the emotion in their eyes. I wanted to know what they thought of me.

What is it looking at us like that?

We're all going to die. She'll kill us.

Great, another freak.

I was hearing words, but no one was saying anything. Was I... reading their minds?

God what next?

Aaron pulled me away from their prying gazes. We went down a hallway just across from the front door. He led me into a side room and shut the door behind us.

"Sorry about that, but it may take a while for them to warm up to you. Most of them are pretty closed minded about people like you and me."

"People? There are more of us?"

He chuckled, "Nothing gets past you does it? Well yes, there are. We're actually trying to track one right now. We've broken into Armacham buildings, only to find everyone inside is dead. There's no way it's a normal person. It has to be someone like Point Man."

"Not like you?"

"No not someone like me. The corpses are all littered with bullet wounds. If it was a psychic, then they would be ripped up or crushed. Whoever it is, they rely on guns."

CRAKA THOOM!

Thunder boomed outside, reminding me of the storm.

Aaron looked out of the small window.

"We're leaving this place first thing in the morning. We can't ever stay in one place for long."

He turned back to me.

"You should get some sleep while you can."

He nodded at me before exiting the room and shutting the door behind him.

But I didn't want to sleep yet. I don't think I could if I did. I wanted to see if there was anything else I should... know about myself. After accidentally discovering two abilities, for the first time, I wanted to do it on purpose.

I decided to try something basic. Telekinesis perhaps.

I slid off the bed and looked for something small to use. I spotted a pen lying on a desk.

I focused my attention on it, concentrating on making it lift.

It shook rapidly, but didn't rise off the desk.

Frustrated, I redoubled my efforts.

It was going to be a long night.

Author's note: Sorry this update took so long. I've been absorbed in this book called "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin. It's amazing. So what did you guys think of this chapter? Those of you wanting to see Becket won't be disappointed. He is coming... well sort of. Review if you want updates faster.


	8. Chapter VIII

**Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.**

**Author's note: I can upload without using evernote. I'm so excited!** **I'm using the pro version of Documents To Go. It lets me actually make Microsoft Word documents right from my phone! Everything is working just like it would if I were using a computer!** **That means bold, italic, and those little symbols you see!**

•**Π• **

(Aaron's POV)

Up bright and early... at 4:00 AM. Ugh.

Our hide-out had that early morning dimness that felt like night contrarywise to being day. I'd become accustomed to sharing the first-to-rise solitude with Point Man. We always had to drag everyone else out of bed, but we had decided... well, I had suggested and received a nod in reply, to let them sleep in today considering we were moving camp.

That and I wanted our guest to be allowed to eat breakfast without people staring daggers at her.

She had to be hungry after two days after all.

I approached her door and knocked lightly. There was no response so I quietly pushed the door open.

Lucy was sprawled out in the floor for some reason.

I laughed lightly to myself before walking over and nudging her shoulder with my boot.

Her eyes fluttered open and she propped herself up on her elbows, looking around as though she had forgotten where she was.

She noticed me standing above her, and quickly leapt up from the ground. She stood there with an timid look on her face, apparently embarrassed to be caught in such a position. Her hair was slightly tousled from sleep, and a faint hint of Alma's amber lurked behind her green eyes.

God, it was like looking at a cute, innocent version of _her._

How peculiar.

I waited patiently while she stretched out the stiffness in her joints.

When she finished I decided to speak up,"You were in the floor because...?"

"I honestly don't remember falling asleep," she said with a yawn,"I was just practicing-."

"Practicing," I asked, intrigued.

Her features instantly brightened,"Oh yes, I can move things without touching them now," she rattled excitedly.

She turned and pointed at the desk on the other side of the room.

"Watch this," she said.

She extended her left hand, furrowed her brow, and narrowed her eyes in concentration.

To my utter amazement, the desk lifted from the floor and floated in mid-air. But I'd known she'd be able to do things like this, that wasn't what surprised me.

"How long did that take you," I asked.

"I don't know. An hour and a half, maybe more... why?"

"To lift something that big," I said with a pause,"Took me four years. Four years of hard, Armacham conditioning. And you did it less than two hours. That's unbelievable, you'd have to be ridiculously powerful. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, I'm very curious to know what else you can master in two hours."

As she absorbed that information, I noticed that she didn't seem as shocked as usual. Perhaps she was getting used to being told things like this.

"Come on," I said."You'll want to eat before everyone else gets up."

I walked back out of the room and she followed me silently.

As we reached the front room, I spied Point Man doing push-ups while listening to the news. A pretty blonde reporter was speaking lucidly into the camera.

"Currently the United States military is still searching for the mysterious terrorists who are suspected to be renewing their earlier attempts to spread panic throughout the country. Just yesterday, an army base was attacked by the same terrorist cell that has plagued us for nearly two decades. The two responsible for the takeover of an Armacham facility are thought to be leading the cell that caused the Fairport Crisis exactly sixteen years ago today. No details are being released at the time, but the government has issued martial law until these dangerous people are apprehended. They only ask that you cooperate with any military forces that you may come into contact with as to better assist in their search. Until next time, this Channel Seven news, always bringing you the truth."

Lucy spoke from behind me,"It's not really the military is it? It's Armacham right?"

"I'm afraid they've become nearly one in the same. As long as Armacham is supplying the government with useful weapons, they're going to fund them to continue to do so. Especially with the incorporation of Project Prometheus. Imagine what The Pentagon will do with an army of psychic soldiers. When other countries find out about what they're up to, they'll immediately try to do the same. It'll be an arms race of sorts, that is until the tension becomes too great and a war starts. And that's only if the government doesn't launch an attack as soon as they've organized their troops sufficiently. Either way we'll lose. They're going to do everything in their power to make sure everyone thinks it's all our doing."

"Are you saying there's no way to stop this at all," Lucy asked miserably.

I suddenly felt a rush of pity towards her. Only two days ago she was just a normal teen with a normal life, and now she was going to be remembered as a monster who helped terrorists assault the country out of sheer malice for anything peaceful or good. She honesty didn't deserve these horrible things that were happening to her.

"Well, the situation isn't entirely helpless," I said.

"How," she looked up, desperate hope shining in her eyes.

"When Point Man was fighting through that Armacham building to put down Fettel's revolt, he found a number of files detailing Armacham's experiments on your mother. They're recordings of Armacham employees voicing their opinions on it all. We plan to comandeer a broadcast station and play the tapes on live television. This could win us vital support from the public. They'll try and deny it, some will believe Armacham, some will believe us. With any luck, our little rag-tag here group won't be fighting this war alone."

A certain determination came over Lucy's face then.

"That's what we'll do then, surely someone will see the truth. Surely someone will stand with _us _against _them."_

"Am I witnessing, the birth of a revolutionary," I asked with a grin.

"Perhaps you are," her tone was deadly serious. Frightening almost.

She looked at me, raising an eyebrow,"I just remembered something."

"What?"

"Today is my birthday... I'm sixteen now."

**Author's note: Did you guys like this one?** **I always like to get reviews. I especially like to know how I'm doing on OCs. If anyone has a PlayStation 3 my PSN is also seventhcaustic, add me if you like my fic. Yes everyone I know Becket is dead. Just trust me on that one. Sorry about your Aunt. The person that's meant for knows what I'm talking about.**

**Today is also my birthday :)**


	9. Chapter IX

**Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.**

**Author's note: This one was fun to write. Different POVs really shake it up. **

•**Π•**

**Prologue: Sixteen years ago**

The heavy concrete dug into my back.

I couldn't move. No matter how hard I tried.

So this was it. It was really over. I was actually going to die this time.

_She _was dead and I'd been left alone, trapped under the rubble that had been the tallest tower in Fairport.

And I was bleeding. Bleeding bad.

I said a silent goodbye to the world that had been so cruel, and closed my eyes for the last time.

And then _She _was there.

"You can't die yet," _Her_ voice was urgent and panicked. "She needs a father! She needs someone who will protect her! Please! She needs you!"

_Her _words seemed to breath a new life into me.

I clawed at the debris that held me down. I clawed until my fingers cracked and bled. I clawed until I broke through to the surface. If Armacham found me now, it was all over.

That couldn't happen. It wouldn't. I wouldn't let it.

If I was caught, I was dead. I couldn't let them find me.

I stood shakily and ran away as fast as I could.

I promised I would find _Her _oneday.

For _Her _I could do it.

For _Her..._

•**Π•**

(Elizabeth Main's POV)

Pointless.

Fucking pointless.

Why did we have all this high maintenance, advanced equipment if we couldn't even keep a prototype from getting out whenever the hell they wanted? All of those soldiers killed needlessly in that riot.

Pointless equipment, pointless soldiers, and pointless fucking experiments! How much money went down the drain when he got all of them out? A few million?

Looks like _Project Achilles _was a waste of time _and _money.

At least his brother Michael, subject one, could shoot, but he'd escaped sixteen years ago when Alma was let out of her cage. The report said he'd been crushed when the tower fell, but we'd never found a body. Now the younger one was gone too! And he wasn't even a success. He was supposed to be a failure. A failure that killed forty-nine people, including a couple of scientists, on his little rally earlier today.

He'd even gotten a lucky shot in on Danielle herself.

As long as I'd been with Armacham, I'd never seen Danielle get hurt. Not once.

Not until today anyway.

I'd always held a particular distaste for Danielle, though I seemed to be the only one. Not because of her personality or anything rational like that.

Just because she was better. Because she was always better. Better at everything.

It couldn't stand it when people were better than me. So I would practice and practice and practice until they weren't, just because I hated losing so much. But not with this one. Not with fucking Danielle.

She was just damn ridiculous. A one-woman army.

And she just happened to be my commanding officer. Which means I gotta do whatever she says or I get fired.

I touched the left side of my neck, feeling the rough scars that reached farther down under my armor. Feeling them while my hand jerked and twitched involuntarily.

_Fired_...

They still burned. This many years after my accident, and the scars still burned.

I'd lost too much doing this to go back now...

Much as I didn't like working under Danielle, but I supposed she was better than Alexander.

One certainly does hear rumors about that man...

From what I'd picked up, Danielle and Alexander certainly handled failure differently. Not that Danielle ever handled failure at all, Sometimes I could swear I was the leader of the Artemis forces.

Danielle never really led anything, mostly because she was always deployed alone. However, since I couldn't phasecast, they usually sent me in with high-level Artemis soldiers like Malcolm, Luke, or Beth.

Contrarywise, Alexander didn't lead super-soldiers. He was in charge of the mainstream of the Armacham ground forces.

I didn't even want to know how Alexander had reacted to being..._ disappointed _when Alma's kid got out yesterday. Maybe her escape prompted Becket, subject two, to start the mass break-out this morning.

A total of eight experiments got away.

Not that it would matter, not with _Prometheus_ starting soon. That was going to turn half of the United States into "experiments".

Couldn't say I was looking forward to that. We'd be busy for quite a while.

However, we had a couple of subjects left who weren't as opposed to us as their peers were.

It had always been Becket who had started opening the other subjects' minds to our "cruelty". Who knows why, he was one of the most well-treated subjects we had. Ever since Michael had gotten away sixteen years ago, Becket had always been causing trouble and getting everyone wound up against the guards even though we were just trying to earn our paychecks.

Unbelievable.

I'd just been coming from an experimental chamber where they were running tests on one of our remaining subjects.

Walking by the room, I'd heard the two scientists talking about something. So I'd decided to listen and see what I could learn.

They were discussing the possible benefits and drawbacks of _Project Godfall._

Being a highly ranked officer, I usually knew what was going on behind the scenes, but I'd never heard of anything like this. So it must've been important.

Before I could hear any more, one of the scientists spotted me lurking by the door, and quieted the other man.

I could tell by their expressions that I wasn't supposed to hear that particular conversation.

Two-and-a-half hours later, I got called down to Danielle's office.

Something here wasn't quite registering correctly with me, which in my experience, usually didn't bode well.

I walked briskly down the hallway to door at the end. I wrapped my right hand, the one that wasn't constantly seizing up, around the knob.

Taking a deep breath, I twisted it and entered the small room.

Danielle was leaning back in her chair. Eyes closed and a thoughtful look on her face, she didn't appear to notice me walk in.

Not until she slowly opened her eyes and fixed me with a dark look.

For once there was no humor whatsoever showing in her features. There only seemed to be carefully concealed anger.

"Sit," she said in that frigid voice.

I remained standing, returning her charred gaze with my own.

"What do you need _commander,"_ I asked in my grating voice with only the slightest hint of an English accent, nearly undetectable through my rasping.

Talking made my throat feel like it was burning.

Danielle smiled a crooked, evil smile. As if she knew some terrible secret that I didn't. A secret that would make me regret all the defiance I'd shown her over the years.

She probably did.

"I've got something for you to do," she said, picking up a pen and idly spinning it around in her hand.

"What is it," I asked when she didn't continue.

"I've got a lead on Lucy's location, you're going to investigate it for me. Malcolm and Luke are going with you".

She handed me a paper with the location on it.

"Go," she said in a tone that suggested she was through talking with me.

I about faced and strode back through the door.

I looked over the paper, the location was an apartment building in the poor district. From looking at the picture, I decided that the roof would be the best point of entry. There were three floors, Lucy's was on the second.

Yes, the roof would do.

I immediately headed for the exit, hoping that I could get away without taking Malcolm and Luke with me on this mission. I didn't want anyone behind me at the moment, but, as luck would have it, they were waiting by the front door.

"Trying to avoid us again," Malcolm asked, feigning surprise.

I didn't reply, but simply motioned for them to follow.

•**Π•**

I was wearing an enhanced version of the old phase commander suit. Not big and strong like Alexander's, but small and fast.

We stopped the car about two blocks from the building, not wanting to have Point Man and his crew to see the big "Armacham" printed along the side of the vehicle.

We used the fire escape on the building adjacent to the apartments to get access to the rooftops. Then we just jumped over to the apartment building's roof.

This was definitely too easy. If Point Man was this easy to catch, we would have gotten him years ago.

We lifted the skylight and slipped silently into the building. According to Danielle's information, Lucy was in room seven on the second floor.

As we approached the door, I got the feeling of impending danger. Though I couldn't tell whether it was from whatever was on the other side of the door, or from the two men following so close behind me.

Because Luke and Malcolm didn't have phase commander suits, Luke used an AA12 to breach the door while Malcolm and I were stacked on the other side.

Luke stormed the room and I followed, only to walk around the corner of the frame and find myself staring straight into the barrel of his shotgun.

I felt Malcolm's assault rifle press into the back of my neck.

"Put down your gun _very slowly_," Malcolm said.

Anger flared in me but I kept it hidden and did as I was bid. I couldn't believe I'd actually fallen for this. So this was why I had been sensing danger. I always did have an excellent intuition though I was notorious for ignoring it in favor of following orders.

"Why," I at least wanted to know why I was going to be executed in this dirty little place.

_"_You got nosy_," _Luke said.

Based on his vague response, I determined that he was referring to _Project Godfall._

I began analyzing my situation. I believed I could think of a way out of this. I knew Malcolm had his weapon at my neck, and Luke's at my head. So I would have to duck. But before that, I had to distract them so that their reaction time would be slowed.

"Well what if-," I broke off in mid-sentence and made my move. A trick I learned during my days as a mercenary in Europe, where I'd picked up the accent. I'd never seen it fail before, why should it now?

I dove downwards, phasing through the floor. I heard bullets cut the air where my head had been half-a-second ago.

It was certainly fortunate that we'd been on the second level.

I landed hard, right next to the bewildered man who lived in the room I phased into.

Their muffled curses were loud just above me.

I said a few of my own after realizing I'd left my gun upstairs. I muttered a quick apology to the stranger and ran.

Pointless assassins.

•**Π•**

**Like it? If you don't remember Elizabeth Main, then go read the end of the second chapter again. Did you like the way I portrayed your character Brazerancor? Oh, and I had someone complain that I always explained things too quickly, taking away alot of the complexity. I hope I was vague enough this time. Please review and tell me what you think. **


	10. Chapter X: The Hunters

**Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.**

**Author's note: Sorry for my terribly slow updates. I'm just absorbed in my reading of "A Song of Ice and Fire". Anyway I've been brainstorming a while over the direction I'm taking the story in. You guys should like this one though. Oh, and I had someone ask about exactly what happened in the last chapter. So I'll explain it: Elizabeth heard two scientists talking about**_** Project Godfall**_**, so Danielle tried to have her killed to keep her from telling anyone. But Elizabeth got away by phasing through the floor of a two story apartment building the same way that the Phase Commanders went through walls in F.3.A.R. That clear things up?**

•**Π•**

(Danielle Liu's POV)

"So let me get this straight, you're both highly trained _Artemis _soldiers, you had an assault rifle that can fire more than 200 rounds a minute, you had a shotgun loaded full of buckshot... and Elizabeth was still faster than _both _of you," I asked in a voice sweet with malice.

Malcolm's face reddened in silent anger at my berating of their poor performance.

"Yes," he hissed sharply at me.

"Well I suppose I couldn't expect _you two_ to be able to shoot someone in the head. Terribly difficult task that," I drawled sarcastically, resting my head in my left hand and idly tapping a pen on my desk with my right. I kept my eyes on the pen instead of the pair standing before me.

"Don't worry Danielle, we'll find her. I mean, she's not the _most _conspicuous person," Luke said, apparently unconcerned with their failure.

"That's true, but I regret to inform you two that there won't be any second chances."

"What's that supposed to mean," Malcolm asked, his eyes narrowing.

"We're being taken off the assignment," Luke added his own inquiry to Malcolm's.

"Not exactly," I chuckled threateningly, rising from my seat.

The expressions on their faces quickly turned to fear as they cautiously backed away.

They were so focused on me that they didn't even notice Alexander walk up right behind them.

He wrapped his enourmous hands around their necks, lifted them into the air, and squeezed until I heard the bones crack. Afterwards, he simply dropped them to the floor like they were ragdolls.

I laughed aloud for a good thirty seconds before I wiped tears of mirth from my eyes and looked up at his massive form.

"You're so delightfully brutal, you know that right? Though I suppose that's just what happens when you pick a serial killer off death row and give him advanced cybernetic enhancements."

He threw me a scorching glare.

I cocked my head to the side,"Why are you looking at me like that," I asked, though I already knew the answer.

He continued to glare.

"Oh it couldn't be because I didn't let you do that to Lucy could it? I thought we were past that."

More glaring.

"Well you do have quite the history with anger," I gave him a black smile,"Your friend Becket learned that the hard way didn't he? You know, maybe that's why he was always stirring up trouble. Most people don't appreciate having an eye torn out."

Alexander was audibly grinding his teeth, something he seemed to do whenever he was especially angry.

Malcolm moaned.

I peered over the edge of my desk at his motionless body, then glanced at Alexander,"Hmm... snapping someone's neck doesn't necessarily kill them. Uhh... would you-?"

Alexander raised his gargantuan right foot and brought it down on Malcolm's head.

A splash of blood land on my forehead, and much more hit my desk. I wiped my face and sighed irritably.

"I can think of a few less repulsive ways you could've done that," I said.

"Perhaps you could, but none of them would have served so well as to improve my mood," he replied in his intelligent diction.

"Yes well, I suppose now is as good a time as any to get to the point of this discussion. As I'm sure you already know, Aristide wants you to kill Elizabeth. Search and destroy, your favorite."

"But I was promised Lucy," he protested.

"Yes, and you'll get her. But I'll be the one going after her. You are trained to kill people like Point Man, Michael, and Elizabeth. I, on the other hand, am trained to kill people like Lucy, Aaron, and Becket. Once I get Lucy, I'll hand her over to you."

"You promised something similar before," Alexander said in reference to our earlier deal stating he would receive Lucy after we finished collecting all of the DNA we needed.

"Yes, but last time my old friend Aaron was there to save her. They won't surprise me a second time," I argued.

Alexander looked thoughtful for a moment before replying,"Fine, but I won't tolerate being disappointed again."

"Was that an underlying threat I just detected Alexander? Hmm, a fight between us could be quite entertaining to watch. In fact, we should charge for admission. Does twenty dollars a head sound reasonable to you," I asked with a laugh.

"Sounds adequate to me. It'd be an extra twenty in my pocket after I ripped your pretty little head off your shoulders."

"Oh there'd be a smoking hole between your eyes long before it came to that," I cackled as we exchanged our unusual banter.

"Agree to disagree," he said.

"You should take Andrew with you, he'll be a valuable asset," I suggested.

"You mean Freddy Krueger, yes it could be fun working with him, always gets in your head doesn't he," he stood and turned to leave on his mission.

"Alexander," I called after him.

"Yes Danielle?"

"While we're on the subject of heads, please, bring me Elizabeth's," I said in my most cheerful voice.

•**Π•**

**Author's note: Was this one good? Sorry it was so short, but I've been busy. I've been getting new OC submissions lately, and I've been attempting to come up with creative ways to implement them into the story. Did you like this Alardem? So it looks like Elizabeth is going to have to try and outfox Alex. And Lucy and her group will be trying to avoid capture or elimination by Danielle. All while the threat of **_**Prometheus**_** looms large. And what is this **_**Project Godfall**_**? Tune in to find out. Gonna be fun to write!**


	11. Chapter XI: One of these days

**Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.**

**Author's note: Two new OCs by Alardem and TheDude5000! Alan isn't Russian though. Don't strain yourself by trying to imagine the accent. **

•**Π•**

(Alan Savlov's POV)

I could spend hours at a time doing this, just sitting here and staring longingly down at the 9mm pistol in my hand.

It would be so easy, and I would so love to end this excuse of a life I lead.

But I couldn't, I wouldn't abandon my wife and daughter to endure our family's darkest years alone. If I were to die now, they'd have no hope for their future. Nothing to get them through the torment Armacham brought them every day.

One day I'd get them back though. Whether it be by Armacham's will or otherwise. My family suffered because of the things I'd seen and heard during the Fairport Crisis sixteen years ago.

They suffered because of my mistakes.

I'd rather Armacham just have me killed and be done with it, but they wouldn't assassinate me like I wanted, not while I could still be of use to them. I had learned too much about their company's inner workings, and now they wouldn't let me go.

And they used my family to keep me in line. I had to do everything asked of me or they would increase the pain they dealt my wife Vanessa. And my daughter Violet, they used her in their "experiments". They were trying to turn her into one of those damn psychic freaks. Every day I had to fight for Armacham whilst the image of the two people I loved most in the whole world living miserably played through my head.

I holstered the gun and silently resolved that I'd avenge their ruined lives as soon as Armacham's back was turned just for a second. But for now, I had to work _**with**_ the man who tortured my imprisoned wife whenever I showed any form of defiance.

Alexander Burnwood.

That was almost as bad as having my family used as blackmail against me. It was as if Armacham actually wanted to antagonize me to the point of suicide. Every day was like a fucking curse. Armacham was the absolute bane of my existence, and I had to do whatever they demanded of me. I was forced to swallow my hatred and just deal with it.

Apparently, I was going on an assignment with the big man himself today, though I wasn't aware of it's objective. I was on my way to be briefed at the moment.

While walking through the maze-like hallways of the ATC facility, I came across a massive hole in the wall were one or other of the psychics that Becket had escaped with yesterday had blasted out of his cell. There were a few workers attempting to repair it, and were having quite a hard time doing so, as there wasn't much wall left to fix. So they effectively had to completely rebuild it, bricks, sheetrock, and all.

Good.

When I finally located Alexander, he was talking to Andrew Keegan, one of the products of _Project Olympus._ Everyone called him Freddy Krueger_._ I'd heard rumors that he could project hallucinations, particularly bad ones, into other people's minds.

Alexander noticed me approaching and smiled poisonously.

"Well hello Alan. You seem cheerful as always," he stated spitefully.

I gritted my teeth, doggedly biting back a sarcastic retort. If I were to show insubordination, my wife would pay for it later.

"What is the assignment," I asked in an almost robotic tone.

"Straight to the point then? None of our usual friendly banter? Alright, since you're coming as well, I'll give you the simpler details. You, Andrew, myself, three _Artemis _soldiers, and two-hundred ATC security troops are going on a city-wide search. It seems that, while Danielle is looking for Lucy Wade, I am tasked with hunting down a 'defector'. You remember Elizabeth Main don't you?"

Main? She most certainly wasn't the type to defect. She was far too loyal. I suspected that I was being lied to. However, I kept it to myself.

"Yes," I answered curtly.

"Well, she was on a mission with Luke and Malcolm when she decided to turn. Killed both of the poor bastards," he said in such a casual, relaxed manner as for me to discern that he honestly didn't care if I believed his obvious fabrication or not.

"When do we leave," I inquired.

"When _Prometheus _starts. So around noon tomorrow."

Andrew frowned disapprovingly,"I elected not to bring you along. Unenhanced specialists are notorious for failing missions when enhanced targets are involved," he turned to Alexander,"Are you sure he won't get us all killed?"

"Are you really the one to be questioning another's abilities? I heard you never were able to beat your brother at anything. As a matter of fact, I heard you had to fuck Aristide to even get a job at ATC. And do you know what else, I also heard you got her pregnant! What was that kid's name? Aiden or something else like that," I wasn't worried about insulting Andrew. My wife wouldn't be hurt if I happened to piss him off. Plus I needed to vent some anger.

Andrew's eyes flashed with fury,"My brother is dead Savlov, I don't care if I'm as good as he _used_ to be. And the rumor about me sleeping with Aristide is a goddamn lie! And if I ever here _you_ say anything else about it I'll-."

Alexander laid a huge hand on Andrew's shoulder as if to hold him back.

"That's enough Andrew. You don't have to worry about Alan here doing anything wrong. He knows what'll happen if he does. Isn't that right Alan?"

"Yes," I hissed.

"Yes what," Alexander asked mockingly.

"Yes _sir_," I said with unimaginable difficulty.

"That's better, now get out of my sight."

I turned stiffly and strode away from the loathsome pair.

One day they'd get what they deserved.

I'd make sure of it.

•**Π•**

**Author's note: This chapter is short but that's mostly because I got this OC(Alan) just a few days ago and I wanted to do a chapter in his POV because I saw it as an opportunity to introduce the other OC(Andrew) all in one chapter. I hope everyone liked it! Alan Savlov was created by Alardem. Andrew Keegan was created by TheDude5000. Please review. I literally write faster the more reviews I get. It really gets me motivated. Seriously am I going to be reduced to offering cyber-cookies?**


	12. Chapter XII: Reality

**Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.**

**Author's note: Sorry this update took forever. I've been extremely busy in the real world :). Anyway, we're finally back to Lucy! Oh and you guys should go read a story called "The FEAR Tracker" by Alardem. The main character in that story will be appearing later in mine. So they're going to tie in. It's basically that character's history. It takes place during the Fairport Crisis so think of it as a prelude of sorts to this story. **

•**Π•**

(Lucy Wade)

We delayed moving to a different apartment building because an incident had taken place at the one we planned on going to.

Yesterday, we saw an emergency broadcast on the television as we were packing up. I had eaten a plate of scrambled eggs to sate the hunger that I didn't even know about until I put the loaded fork into my mouth and tasted food for the first time in two days. But as the members of the group slowly woke, I found that my eyes were more prone to examining the floor rather than the screen.

At the apartment complex eight blocks away, there was a reported sighting of one the "terrorists". I only looked up when a picture drawn of the suspect appeared.

"If you see this woman," the reporter stated as a picture of a blond individual with scars creeping up her neck was shown,"Then please call the number at the bottom right hand side of your television."

That was an odd moment for me. While everyone else looked at the drawing indifferently, I recognized the woman from when I was imprisoned in the ATC facility. Danielle had even said, what I assumed to be her last name, out loud. The name being given, Joan Pierce, must be false, because I distinctly recalled that her last name began with an M, though my memory refused to deliver the remaining letters.

In my peripheral vision, I noticed Aaron looking at the visage with a certain interest. My intuition said that she wasn't a stranger to him. I tried reading his mind but, for some reason, that trick didn't seem to be in my repertoire of randomly discovered powers any longer. I wondered if the mind reading was a one-time thing, or if I just needed to learn better control of my abilities.

My curiosity getting the better of me, I formed a way to ask Aaron about the woman without letting him know I suspected him of any history with her.

"Who's she," I casually inquired, directing my question at no one in particular.

I received a few nasty looks, as if I wasn't allowed to speak. But, as I predicted, Aaron answered.

"That's Elizabeth Main. She's an Armacham phasecaster."

But that was all he said. It looked like his short answer satisfied everyone. They probably just assumed he knew her from his days with Armacham.

But the manner in which he'd replied, short and gruff, raised an inkling of disbelief in me. Nevertheless, I'd made the decision not to press him for further information. He'd told me about his past with ATC and the replica soldiers easily enough. If he wanted to inform me about Elizabeth, he'd do it on his own eventually. I happened to see Jin Sun Kwon giving Aaron a scrutinizing glance as well. Maybe she'd thought of the same thing I had.

We must've made quite a curious sight, all eight of us huddled in the morning gloom. Eight haggard faces illuminated only by the ghostly artificial light produced by the TV. Some distraught, some angry, some tired. Every one of these faces had seen a difficult life.

Except mine. Just something else to set me apart from the rest of the group I'd thought morosely.

The reporter continued,"In other news, the United States' relationship with the European Union is consistently deteriorating. The tensions that have been building for sixteen years over speculation of America's supposed development of super weapons seem to be coming to a head. We can only hope that it doesn't erupt into a war. But we should all be prepared for the worst. Once again, we ask that you cooperate with the Armacham soldiers. They are currently standing in for the U.S. military while marines make their way here to our city. Until the terrorists are found, we will be experiencing martial law. This is strictly for the safety of Fairport's citizens."

After that, Betters had switched the TV off. He'd said that he couldn't listen to those lies anymore. I was relieved, I didn't think I could've either.

During the day, Aaron had pointed out each member of the team that Betters, Point Man, and Jin had put together. Aaron had been the most recent addition until I'd arrived. Excluding me, there were seven of them: Jin Sun Kwon, Point Man, Rodney Betters, Keira Stokes, James Sandor, Yohn Ramar, and Aaron Carter. I could easily tell that none of them trusted me except for Aaron and maybe Point Man. James, Keira, and Jin even refused to speak to me. Aaron had mentioned that they used Keira for any conspicuous activities. She was their main operative for anything that required an identity because Armacham wasn't looking for her. She'd been pronounced dead sixteen years ago when she'd been shot by the Armacham president, Genevieve Aristide. Aristide assumed Keira had died, so she had replica troops bury her in a shallow, unmarked grave to cover up the murder. She'd been officially reported K.I.A. ever since.

However, she had been still alive, though just barley. Fortunately for her, the replicas weren't perfect at that time and could only mechanically follow orders. They'd noticed her faint breathing, but buried her anyway. Later she'd regained consciousness and dug herself out.

The rest of yesterday had gone by agonizingly slowly.

Today was even worse. It was apparent that the shock of the many revelations of the past weekend had begun to fade. Leaving me with the crushing weight of the reality of my severe situation finally coming to settle on my exhausted mind.

Looking back on my life, I'd never known that one day I'd be called a terrorist, a super weapon, or a murderer.

Though the last one was true. I did murder my teacher, whether it was by accident or otherwise. Despite Mrs. Williford being a hateful woman, she didn't deserve an execution. If I could've take it back, I would've done it in a heartbeat.

My troubled thoughts also drifted back to my adoptive parents, Edward and Catherine Morgan. They'd taken care of me as if had always been their real daughter, and I'd loved them as if they were always my real parents. Alma was my mother, I'd known that from the moment she'd told me. As soon as the words had been uttered, I'd seen a vision of my moment of birth. I'd seen my brothers fighting to determine my fate. I shuddered to think of the person I'd be now if Fettel would've won. I'd seen it through my brother's eyes. So I knew Alma was being honest when she'd explained my true origins.

Despite that, I still loved Mom and Dad, which I was determined to continue calling them. And I wanted to know if they lived or not. If they were alive, then that would be stupendous. If not, well at least I'd be able to close the book on the matter. The not knowing was just killing me.

And then there were my powers. They were extremely dangerous and I hadn't the faintest idea of how to make them obey me. I'd gotten angry for just one second and blown someone's head clear fucking off! What if that happened again?

I was expected to stop a war and destroy an atrociously cruel organization that was far bigger than me. I didn't know how that, in such a short time, this amount of responsibility had landed squarely upon my thin, small shoulders. Everyone thought I'd be all-powerful or something like that, but the truth was, I didn't trust my own abilities in the slightest. Despite yesterday's strange novelty when I first uncovered my psychic prowess and confirmed that I really was getting stronger, just as Aaron had said I would. I'd even been a little proud of myself when I'd lifted that desk for the first time.

So much had happened in the past three days. And yet I hadn't really felt it through my frayed nerves until day four.

The first three days had passed by me in a horrified daze, but today, for the first time, I really started thinking about my new life.

I thought about the tragic loss of friends and family.

I thought about the rapid gain of enemies and memories that I hadn't experienced.

I thought about how I didn't belong in a war. About how I wasn't a fighter.

Regardless of all those conclusions, I still found myself riding to the new location that Betters had settled on last night before everyone went to sleep and James was assigned to the first watch. In the morning, Betters had drawn lines on a map of Fairport that indicated the paths each of us would take to the motel across town that we were to rendezvous at. Point Man dragged two large boxes from his room into the den and pried one of them open. Inside, there were stacks of bulletproof vests and limb guards, about four flak jackets, grenades, small cases filled with various types of ammunition, and the weapons to match them.

Everyone pulled the gear that they required from the box, then they returned to their respective living areas to don their sets of Kevlar armor. I assumed it went under the clothing.

When he and I were the only ones left in the room, Point Man sifted through the remaining equipment and pulled out the smallest pieces of armor he could find. He strapped the vest on over my shirt to test the fit. When he saw that even the smallest size was still bulky on me, he removed his belt and tied it around my waist to better tighten the vest to my petite frame. He went over to the other box, which held clothing items, selected a baggy hoodie, and gave it to me to put on. He then proceeded to dump the rest of the armor into my arms and point to the bathroom.

I shuffled inside and quickly pulled off my pants, buckled the leg and arm guards to their appropriate places, threw my clothes back on with the addition of the hoodie, and stepped back into the main room.

Point Man looked me up and down, after deciding that the armor was properly concealed, he reached back into the box.

I was stunned when he lifted a out pistol and dropped it into my hands.

This was the first time I'd ever held a real gun.

"Umm...," I started.

Point Man's face contorted for a moment as if he were solving a math problem in his head. Then he leaned back over the crate and handed me a thigh strap to holster the pistol in.

I got some of the strangest looks when the others came back. James frowned, Betters nodded at Point Man, Jin glared at Point Man, Keira shook her head, Yohn raised an eyebrow, and Aaron smirked.

We split off into three teams and took the differing routes to our planned destination, so as to arrive at separately. Aaron and Jin loaded the crates of equipment and clothing into their box truck and left first, Betters got into a van with Keira and James and drove away when they were gone, and Point Man, Yohn, and I departed after the others in a small, dingy car with spots of mildew dotting the inside.

I wondered were they'd acquired the vehicles.

Yohn was driving while Point Man sat in the passenger seat, his right hand wrapped tightly around the handgun he'd retrieved for himself from the box. I, on the other hand, was in the the back again and experiencing an immense predilection of paranoia while I turned my own over and over in my hands nervously. Despite me never having even fired a gun, the weight of a weapon served to slightly ease my mind. I even levitated it around a bit in an attempt to hone my telekinetic skills.

Armacham had always had a very strong presence in Fairport, but with ATC preparing for _Prometheus_, there were replica troops _everywhere. _

Most of them were just garden variety ground forces with high tech armor and weapons, but we did come across heavily plated APCs and unmanned, bipedal war machines that stalked among the traffic like predators searching through tall grass for some hidden prey.

Ten minutes later, we were moving down a wide street when we noticed a massive form standing at an intersection. As we approached it, we discovered that it was some sort of robot. Its gargantuan size dwarfed even Alexander Burnwood. The ends of its arms had mounted chainguns instead of hands. The shining sliver surface and oddly shaped head made it look like a giant Knight.

"What is that thing," I asked out loud.

"It's an _Atlas _mech," Yohn answered. "They're Armacham's newest unmanned machine. We don't really know much about them ye-."

As we were passing the _Atlas_, it jerked to life as if it had been waiting for us to get close.

It raised its enormous metallic arms with blinding speed and fired.

•**Π•**

**Author's note: Those of you who have been wanting to see some action won't be disappointed by the next chapter. Once again, read "The FEAR Tracker". Alardem is a better writer than me anyway. Please review. It honestly does make me more motivated to write. **


	13. Chapter XIII: Shut up

**Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.**

**Author's note: Hey guys. Here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long I actually broke my old phone and had to buy a new one. LaLaLand, if you want me to use your OC, I need to know your username so I can PM you. Sorry this chapter is so short, I just wanted to let you guys know I'm not dead. This one is also in Lucy's POV. I've got a few more unseen reader OCs that I'm going to introduce soon. **

•**Π•**

(Lucy Wade)

If Point Man hadn't been in that car, we would've been torn apart by the storm of bullets that spewed from the monster's arms.

As the _Atlas _attacked, Point Man lunged at the steering wheel and wrenched it violently to the side, saving us from instant death.

Yohn and I didn't quite register that we were under fire until the sharp, metallic slapping sounds of the car's right side being destroyed by the projectiles pierced the air. After that, Yohn's eyes widened and he slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. Fortunately, there were only a few other vehicles in our path, so the car did have some room to move.

As we sped forward, dodging the other cars, the _Atlas _deployed wheels from its giant feet and swept after us.

The way that it was moving reminded me of ice skating. Or better yet, roller blading.

It was absurdly fast for its imposing size, easily keeping up. No, it was actually faster than the car. I was stricken to see that its long legs were eating up the ground, gaining on us. Yohn must've seen it too, because he turned sharply for a narrow street that may have qualified for an alleyway.

The machine couldn't stop its forward momentum quickly enough to make the same turn we had, so it continued around a different way. Point Man and Yohn opened their doors and stepped out. Yohn noticed that I hadn't moved.

"Lucy, what the hell are you waiting for? Let's go," he half-screamed at me.

"To where," I asked morosely. "It'll just cut us off somewhere else."

"We'll figure something out! Come on, before it gets here," he ordered frantically.

I roughly unbuckled my seatbelt and exited the little car.

Point Man was looking around the street/alley for somewhere to hide and found a fire escape on an adjacent building. Yohn had pulled out a cell phone or a walkie-talkie or something and raised it to his ear.

"Aaron," he began as we made the ascent to the building's roof. "We just got attacked by that new thing Armacham's just started making... Yeah, the _Atlas_. Can you and Jin give us some help here? We aren't equipped to fight something like this... the girl?"

Yohn glanced up at me. I was tightly gripping the rusted metal of the ladder. My curiosity was caught by Yohn's utterance of 'The girl'. What had Aaron said? There was no way I was going to fight that damn robot if that was what he was expecting. Aaron had some mysterious faith that I was some all-powerful being. Just because I'd learned to telekinetically lift things faster than him.

"Aaron and Jin are on their way," Yohn announced. "So hopefully, we'll be able to avoid it for a few minutes."

Point Man was already reaching the rooftop, with me close behind.

"Okay, I'll tell her," Yohn clipped the communicator back onto his belt, as he followed Point Man and I to the roof. "Hey Lucy, Aaron said that he needs you to help hold the robot still."

"What," I asked, incredulous, not believing what I'd heard.

Yohn was suppressing a grin,"Aaron and Jin are bringing a rocket launcher in that van. He wants to know if you can help him hold the _Atlas _in one spot while someone blows it up," he said, apparently amused by my distressed expression.

"What's funny about this," I asked, frustrated.

"It's just weird that there's someone on the team even greener than I am."

"Greener," I wasn't fully comprehending his meaning.

"I'm actually the only person on Rodney's team that isn't some kind of government-trained elite soldier. I always feel so useless when we're fighting. But now, there's someone less experienced around. Makes me feel a little better you know," he finished with a laugh.

Before that moment, I'd never realized how young Yohn was. He couldn't have been any older than twenty. Strange that almost half of the members of the new F.E.A.R. squad were no more than determined children. And two of us were about to face that mechanical monster up close.

It was a frightening prospect, but I supposed I could try.

"Can I talk to Aaron," I asked Yohn.

"Sure, just press the button on the side there," he replied, tossing me the communicator.

I pushed the button and held the device up to my ear.

"Yeah," Aaron answered.

"Are you sure about this," I asked without hesitation.

"Lucy, I'm not sure about anything at the moment. But I do know this will be easier with two of us instead of just one."

"But I've only been able to use my powers for a day."

"Don't be so negative. Try and look at the bright side. At least you'll have Point Man with you. All I've got is Jin," he added with a chuckle.

"Shut up," I heard Jin mutter in the background.

•**Π•**

**Author's note: Please review to let me know you're still reading. Again, LaLaLand, please contact me as soon as possible. **


	14. Chapter XIV: Everyone was a kid once

**Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.**

**Author's note: Merry Christmas.**

•**Π•**

(Fifteen years ago)

"What does she want," I asked the big man as he led me by the hand down the dim hallway.

He didn't answer. He just smiled.

I hmphed, guards were stupid anyway.

I hated being in these big buildings. I was always too short to reach anything and everyone ignored me. Mommy always said not to talk to the people here or I'd get into trouble. There were so many doors and rooms and halls. I'd get lost in here sometimes, but the guards seemed to find their way around easy.

Mommy said that the guards were here to help and I should always do what they told me.

I got slowed down a little and the big man yanked me closer to him.

"Hey, why'd ya do that," I asked him angrily.

No answer again. I rubbed my shoulder where it started to hurt. Before I could say something else, he started pulling me faster.

"Ow, that hurts. Stoppit," I demanded.

"We're here," his grin got bigger.

He was taking me up to a door marked "Surgery".

_What does that word mean?_

He opened the door and shoved me inside.

A bald man in a white coat was looking at a clipboard and glanced at up at me. There was a big bed with a little table next to it beside him.

"On the bed," he ordered.

I didn't want to. I didn't like the way he was looking at me. I tried to back away, but the guard was still behind me.

"Restrain her," the bald man barked at the guard.

"You shouldn't take that tone with me," the guard chuckled. His hands went up under my armpits and he lifted me up to the bed. I saw there were knives on the table.

Now I was getting scared.

"Hold her still," the bald man continued ignoring the guard as he rolled a large tank up to me. I was still fighting the big soldier as hard as I could, but I was so little and he was huge. The man in the coat pressed some kinda mask to my face and turned the knob on the tank.

Some weird air that tasted like metal filled my mouth and nose, then I was really dizzy. Too dizzy to keep struggling. The room was spinning around me, and there were big spots all in my eyes. The spots kept getting bigger until all I could see was black.

•Π•

Patients typically ached after major surgery. However, that didn't seem to be a problem for me. I'd never felt better in my... life. Strange, I couldn't seem to remember anything before now.

"Heh heh," fortunately for, me that was completely irrelevant. I couldn't care less.

Everything stood out in a sharp, clear contrast. I was agonizingly aware of the thunderous buzzing of a housefly in one corner. As I sat up on the gurney, I looked at the intravenous tubes feeding into my wrists and the stitched scars on my arms, stomach, and chest. I could feel some on my back and neck as well.

"Heh," I giggled and laughed. I just couldn't seem to stop myself.

A doctor eased reluctantly into the room. I locked my gaze on him, immediately ceasing all movement. He seemed nervous. No, it was fear. He was afraid of me. I could feel it.

"How are you feeling Samantha," he asked. His voice was slightly shaking.

I smiled at him.

"Why," I asked.

The doctor's face fell. "Just checking up on you. You were in a car crash."

"Why?"

"Your parents were taking you too school."

"Why?"

"Little girls have to go to school."

"Why," I grinned.

The man's fear had been replaced by irrigation. "It's the law. Don't ask why again."

"Okay, I'll ask something else. Why were both of my parents taking me to school?"

"Umm, it was your first day," he offered.

"I'm a bit old for that, and this isn't a hospital. You'd be wearing a name tag. Why are you lying to me," I asked, cocking my head to the side.

"I'm not lying Samantha," the fear was slowly lacing itself back into his voice.

"Of course you are, it's written all over your face," I exclaimed cheerfully.

"But-," he began.

"Can I ask you something else," I interjected.

"What is it?"

"Why did you call me Samantha," I inquired, honestly curious.

The doctor's face brightened the instant that the words slipped off my tongue. For some reason, the apprehension disappeared again.

"What do you mean," his voice quipped as if he'd rehearsed the question.

"That's not my name," I replied.

"Oh, I must have the wrong chart. What is your name little girl," another obviously planned question.

"It's Danielle. Danielle Liu."

•**Π•**

**Author's note: Sorry if this one sucked. I did write it kinda fast. Thanks for sticking with me everyone. Please review. **


	15. Chapter XV: The Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.**

**Author's note: There's a reason this is short. I'm introducing a new OC next chapter. After this I'm going to introduce quite a few stored up reader OCs. **

•**Π•**

(Lucy Wade)

The opportunity to use Aaron's strategy never presented itself.

Point Man, Yohn, and I were forced to abandon the rooftop after we narrowly avoided a dark, streamlined shape that had streaked down at us from seemingly nowhere in particular.

The _Atlas _was firing some sort of explosive up to the roof.

I didn't believe it was a missile, because it didn't blow up instantly. Instead, it landed just behind me. So it might've been a grenade. Not that it mattered of course, it would kill us just as easily at the end of the day. The brief delay of the explosion gave us just a split-second to react. That was plenty of time for Point Man, but not Yohn and I.

The fireball didn't hit us directly, but it completely annihilated the rooftop. The flying rubble nearly did the job that the _Atlas _had sent the bomb to do.

As the flames spread outward from the blast, Point Man dove off the side of the building and grabbed onto the fire escape to stop himself from plummeting to the ground below. The sheer force of the shockwave almost sent Yohn and I over the edge, but, fortunately, the roof collapsed before we were thrown to our deaths and we fell down into the top floor of the building. I hoped that no one happened to be in there. We were on top of the roof, so we had a chance to live, but anyone below would've been killed.

My entire body ached and complained as I laid amid the debris, searching myself for broken bones. I almost sighed with relief when I discovered none, however I did sustain one injury. A long, red, and weeping gash on my right forearm.

Yohn wasn't as lucky.

A massive chunk of concrete had pinned his left hand to the floor. It hadn't flattened his entire hand though, most it was poking out from under the block.

I could hear him screaming even through the thunderous ringing in my ears.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! LUCY, FUCKING HELP ME," he screeched.

We were both caked in a fine white dust from the destroyed concrete. It made Yohn look already half-dead when I finally managed to push myself to my feet and stumble over to him. A thick pool of blood was slowly spreading out from under the boulder.

"GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF ME," he shrieked.

Like an idiot, I tried moving it with my arms to absolutely no effect except another scream from Yohn.

"WHAT'RE YOU DOING? USE YOUR FUCKING POWERS!"

I whispered a small,"Oh," before concentrating my remaining energy on the rock. My telekinesis didn't come easily this time. Perhaps it was because I had just been in an explosion.

Nevertheless, I gathered enough strength to heave the concrete off of him. The very second that the rubble was moved, Yohn snatched his hand out and cradled it gently against his chest like a mangled and bloody infant.

Point Man had crawled in through a decimated window to inspect the source of the agonized wails. His eyes narrowed when he saw Yohn's disfigured hand. He grabbed Yohn's wrist and studied the smashed pinky and ring finger. Without hesitation, he forced Yohn's hand to the floor and drew his knife. The cloud-covered sunlight glinted faintly along the razor edge of the blade as Point Man efficiently cut just above Yohn's knuckles, slicing off the now useless digits.

When Yohn tried to pull back, Point Man gave him a withering look that stilled him again. Point Man retrieved a bandage from a pouch on his belt and wrapped it tightly around the wounded area to stop the profuse bleeding. I could see that Yohn was trying his best not to show the horrible pain he must've been feeling. At least not in front of the veteran soldier.

As he did this, I felt a strange crackle of electricity, or something like it, crawl up my spine, raising the hair on the back of my neck. I felt faint for a moment and faltered a bit before recovering. I didn't think it was because of Point Man's actions, as I'd seen surgery being performed on my foster mother a few years ago. And I'd never been squeamish before. I heard thudding sounds outside. Point Man and Yohn seemed to be too preoccupied with what they were doing to notice.

How curious.

Yohn clenched his jaw as Point Man tied the knot on the bandaged hand. Yohn's face was contorted tensely as he walked over to his rifle, lying across the room, and scooped it up. He was attempting to look dexterous, but the strain showed clearly in his features when he clasped the weapon in his three-fingered hand.

Point Man gave him a glance that seemed almost pitied, then he climbed back through the shattered window from which he'd entered.

I trailed close behind him.

I decided to follow my companion's example and drew the pistol from the holster strapped beneath my left armpit.

Yohn came stiffly through the window after us, favoring his right hand, and we began a cautious descent down the unstable fire escape. It creaked and moaned dangerously under our combined weight, but it miraculously didn't give. Once we reached the ground, Point Man led us to the edge of the alley. He quickly poked his head around the corner of the building, his gaze raking the the street in search of the _Atlas_. After he confirmed that it was suitably safe he motioned for us to follow him across the road to another alley on the other side.

While we were running quietly through the space between the buildings, I got a look at the area around us.

There were dead cars everywhere with people slumped against the dashboards and bodies littered the pavement. The still forms appeared as if they had fallen mid-step and there were no visible wounds on any of them.

Yohn picked the communicator off of his belt and pressed the small button on its side.

"Aaron," he croaked, struggling to keep the trauma out of his voice,"The _Atlas _is gone and there's... there's bodies just all over the place," he whispered.

I tried my enhanced hearing to listen to Aaron's reply.

"I know. They're out here too. I almost passed out just a second ago but Jin was fine, so I really don't have a clue what's going on. You guys be careful."

"Right," Yohn said before clipping the communicator back to his belt loop.

With my augmented hearing abilities, I practically _felt _the deathly quiet and calm that blanketed the city.

Then one small noise broke the silence, a minuscule crunching sound. Then it echoed again, but from a different direction. And again from yet another direction.

It was what gravel sounds like when you step on it.

The sounds were footsteps, and they were all around us.

"We're surrounded," I whispered. Point Man and Yohn stiffened and the noises ceased.

Yohn turned back to face me,"What do you m-,"

He was interrupted by an iron voice from behind us,"Drop your weapons and put your hands on your heads," the disembodied voice ordered.

As it finished the command, soldiers appeared from nowhere as if they'd been wearing Predator's armor.

Funny that I'd think about something like that at a time like this.

The soldiers were clad all in black, their faces concealed by metallic helmets. They kept their weapons trained on us as they closed in, forming a circle of impenetrable black.

"Artemis troops, fuck," Yohn muttered.

An icy panic filled my stomach as I felt one of the Artemis soldiers clamp cold handcuffs around my wrists.

And as if things weren't bad enough, I noticed that the bodies had begun to stir.

•**Π•**

**Author's note: New OCs coming up. Things are about to get started. Please review. **


	16. Chapter XVI: Author's Note

**Author's Note: Hey guys. I know it's been a while since I've updated and I thought you deserved some info on my progress. If you're wondering why it's taking me so long, it's because I've decided to make the next chapter a bit of a history lesson told through the thoughts of two OCs submitted by a reader. It's kind of difficult but I'm already a good distance into it. You can expect the next chapter soon. Thank you for your patience.**


	17. Chapter XVII: The Twins Part I

**Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.**

**Author's Note: This was originally intended to be one big chapter. However, I'm having some trouble in the later bits. So I've decided to break it in two so I can give you something new to read. The second part is mostly finished and will be uploaded upon completion. Thanks, once again, for your patience.**

•**[]•**

(Jason Strongfield)

"Are you in position," Danielle's voice crackled through the headset mounted inside my helmet.

"Affirmative," I replied, flipping open the clasps on the black case that contained the disassembled custom _Wraith_ sniper rifle,"I'm just unpacking now."

"Hey Jason," my sister Janet interjected,"Just make sure you hit the armored shoulder. The boss'll be pissed if dent her new hardware."

"I told you not to worry about me sis, you know how many times we've rehearsed this op. Why don't you tell Krueger to try and keep his illusions up after I take the shot. I don't want another slip up like the one he pulled during practice the other day. If he drops the ball while you're extracting, this whole thing goes up in smoke."

"Two things Strongfield," Andrew interrupted furiously,"One: don't call me fucking Krueger. Two: I thought I made it clear that I only 'slipped up' because of what that shithead Alan said. I get so goddamn sick that rumor about me fucking Aristide to get into Project Artemis."

Andrew Keegan had the most overpowering inferiority complex of anyone I'd ever met. Poor bastard, everyone absolutely despised him as a result of his obsessive crusade to prove that was as good a soldier as his older brother had been. He'd do anything it took to enhance his position or augment his abilities, even to the point of accepting an offer to become an experiment in one of those 'projects' Armacham was so proud of. He'd turned himself into a damn freak just to compensate for his lack of conventional combat skills. Sure I was on the Artemis squad, but I'd never been a part of _Project _Artemis.

Andrew's only real strengths were his tenacity and the power he obtained from the experiments. His unique ability to cast images and thoughts into the minds of others made him a valuable asset and earned him the nickname "Freddy Krueger", often shortened to just "Krueger". He loathed that title, but no one respected him enough to refrain from using it behind his back. Usually, fear of his retaliation would stay the tongue of the garden variety troops. I, however, was plagued by no such trepidation.

"If it's just a rumor, why do you get so aggressive whenever someone mentions it?"

"Because I-," he got no further before Danielle cut our argument short.

"FOCUS," she snapped. "The success of this entire performance depends solely on the two of you, and if either of you fuck it up even a little, I'll...," she paused here as if endeavoring to formulate a sufficiently horrifying consequence before continuing.

"You'll end up like the last two operatives who failed me," she hissed maliciously.

I grimaced, Malcolm and Luke were a frequently discussed topic in the barracks.

I could almost hear Andrew seething with frustration on the other line before communications went silent again.

I resolved to put the incident from my mind so that I'd be able to fully concentrate on the task assigned to me. I retrieved the components of my weapon from the case and reassembled it as efficiently as possible. I decided that it would be wise to examine my surroundings.

The barren rooftop left me feeling very exposed, but it was the only vantage point with a suitable line of sight to my target. I'd much rather have shot from a window, however it simply wasn't an option in the current situation. The wind speed was also erratic at this altitude. I wished I'd been accompanied by a spotter, but two people would likely be seen.

I dropped down to my stomach, deployed the bipod, and adjusted the settings on my scope to compensate for the distance and wind.

I centered the crosshairs on the podium where the President would be delivering her speech and observed the scene below. I was the finest marksman in Artemis aside from Danielle, who was overseeing the operatives that were posing as the President's bodyguards. The cloaking armor I wore would assure me a safe extraction, but the others would be relying on Andrew's skill in psychic manipulation. His job was to make sure that the crowd thought that Aristide received a devastating injury. The shot would only strike her shoulder where it would do minimal damage to the android. The crowd would see her being loaded into an evac chopper and rushed to the nearest hospital with biotech repair capabilities. In reality, she would be taken to a clandestine meeting with the other members of the United Corporate Authority while a decoy helicopter carrying a lookalike android with real damage arrived at the hospital.

My sister would be among the disguised troops.

I'd been worried about Janet recently. I could always tell when she was hiding something, and I felt it now. Oh well, I'd think about that after the mission was finished.

"I'm ready," I said into the mike.

"Acknowledged," Danielle replied crisply,"We're moving now."

"Hey bro, I'll be looking for you up there," my sister chirped in her usual cheery demeanor.

I smiled in spite of myself, at least one of us was relaxed.

I watched on through the scope as Aristide and the troops pushed through the doors of the government's embassy here in Fairport.

At Aristide's appearance, the throng of spectators erupted in a thunderous jubilation, and why wouldn't they? Aristide had been a hero with the American public since she'd received a majority of the credit for halting the Crisis before it spread beyond Fairport. That spectacular reputation had only been enhanced when she survived the assassination attempt two years ago at the closing of her first term as president.

Well, I suppose it didn't actually fail.

I waited for the signal word as she began the speech.

•**[]•**

**Author's note: All of your questions about this chapter, and I know there's alot of them, will be answered in Part II.**

**Jason and Janet Strongfield were created by WoWMotherFan45.**


End file.
